The Grade School Misadventures of Percy Jackson
by Indubitably Flummoxed
Summary: Just some short moments in the life of our favorite young hero... before he was a hero. From meeting Smelly Gabe to his first days at Yancy Academy, Percy doesn't know that the real adventures of his life have yet to begin. This was originally supposed to be humorous, but it turned rather serious against my will! Hope you enjoy anyway!
1. Meeting Smelly Gabe

**This is my first attempt at a PJO story, and it doesn't even really have a plot! It's mostly just going to be short chapters based on some things that happened to Percy before The Lightning Thief and all his other adventures, with two or three things every chapter. There probably won't be that many of them, it's just something I thought I'd try :P And on a completely unrelated note, I found out how to make page breaks! **

**One of the hardest things writing this was refraining from using big words, haha. Percy is six in this chapter, so it would be pretty unnatural for a six-year-old to have the vocabulary of someone who's *my age that I'm not saying on the Internet*. **

**Disclaimer: Ugh, I forgot to put one of these on my other stories. Whoops. Anyway. I'm not Rick Riordan, because I'm *my age that I'm not saying on the Internet*. But I can tell you guys that I'm younger than him. **

* * *

I was being stalked again.

It had happened at every school I went to. You would think I got used to it over time, but I didn't. Every time it happened I just felt scared like the last time, and I knew I'd be just as scared the next time just as much as I knew there would be a next time.

See, weird things happen to me no matter where I go or what I do. One of my earliest memories is from pre-school, when we had naptime. I miss naptime, I really do. Anyway, during my nap I strangled a snake. Don't ask me how, but when my mom came to pick me up, I was playing with its dead body.* Gross, if you ask me. That was two years ago. I was four.

When I was in kindergarten, well, kindergarten only lasted a day. I walked in and my teacher had _snakes _for hair_. _Like, real live snakes that were hissing and everything. I knew because I'd seen snakes before on TV. I said I felt sick - not a complete lie - and I went to the nurse's office. The nurse called my mom, who came to get me. On the ride home, I cried about the snake-haired teacher and said I never wanted to go back. Well, you can imagine my relief when she said I didn't have to.

So I kind of skipped kindergarten. I went back to real school for first grade, which I'm about to finish. I'm going to first-grade graduation next week and it will be the most fun thing ever, not to mention the first time I ever finished a year of school.

Now I might not, because of the old lady in the street.

She was one of those old ladies that you might see wandering around a Goodwill store, who barely has enough money to get enough food for herself. Mom says I shouldn't stare at them, but when this one crossed the street outside the playground, I couldn't help it.

The old lady had _fangs. _I'm not kidding. Real _fangs. _And _claws. _She didn't look at me, but I knew she was here for me. She'd dropped all her groceries that she had been carrying on the sidewalk and was picking them up way too slowly. I tried to get a teacher to make her go away, but they didn't. They couldn't see the fangs and claws! I told the teacher that she was stalking me, but he didn't believe me. He said she was picking everything up too slow because she had Arthur Itis. I don't know what that is, but he said it's a disease that old people get when they get old.

What that has to do with the fang lady, I'm not sure. I don't think she has a disease, unless there's a disease that can give you fangs and claws. One time she looked up at me, and I think it might have given me a heart attack. I don't know exactly what a heart attack does, but I've heard people say it when they get really surprised or scared. I was both of those. The fang lady's eyes were on fire! They were glowing! I think she may have even hissed at me.

I have never been so glad for recess to be over. When school was done and Mom came to pick me up, I ran to her as fast as I could and slammed the car door shut, buckling the seat belt on my car seat.

She just laughed and said, "Are you that excited about meeting Gabe?"

I had forgotten about that.

That night I met Gabriel Ugliano for the first time. He was a real charmer... for about thirty seconds.

Mom found him on this weird-o dating web site for losers who can't get a girl who they actually meet in person. At least, that's what I thought, because all the guys on there were drop-dead UGLY! I'd seen a bunch of their pages. They looked like cows, and Gabe was the ugly one to rule all the other ugly ones.

Mom had shown me a picture of Gabe. She'd printed it off from the web site so she would know who to look for when we went out for sandwiches tonight.

"Now, Percy, this is Gabe," she had said. "If things go well, then Gabe might be your new daddy. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"He's gonna be my daddy?" I asked, nose wrinkled in disgust. "He can't be. He's ugly. That's not what my daddy looks like." Yeah, I never knew my dad. But I had a trace of a memory. It wasn't much, just a smile, and a warm feeling I felt whenever I thought of him. That was my dad.

I'd never seen a picture of him, either. Mom didn't have any, and whenever I asked why not, she said she didn't want to talk about it. She had taught me that if someone says they don't want to talk about something, then I shouldn't keep asking them about it.

"I know," was all she said in reply. "But he's not your real daddy. He might be your new daddy."

I still didn't want to meet him, or even have anything to do with him, so I was pouting in my car seat all the way to the restaurant.

When we pulled up, Mom turned around and sighed. "I want you to have a good attitude, Percy. Please. This means a lot to me." Another thing she drilled into my head was that if something means a lot to somebody, then I shouldn't try and get in the way.

We walked in, and as soon as we did I wanted to leave. Gabe Ugliano was fat, ugly, and smelled totally gross. Kind of like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.** Yuck.

When he saw us he broke out in a yellow-toothed smile. "Sally and Percy?" he asked. His breath smelled like smoke. I bet one of the cigarettes in the ash tray outside was his. No, actually, I think his would probably be laying on the ground somewhere.

"Yes," Mom answered. "And you're Gabe?"

"Charmed," he replied. He and Mom shook hands, and Mom gave me a look, like, _see Percy? He's a perfectly nice man, even if he does smell bad. _ I didn't care. I still didn't like him.

But even the kind factor was self destructed a few minutes later, when Gabe asked my mom, "So are you payin' for yourself and the kid?"

He probably couldn't tell, but I knew my mom well enough to tell the look of hidden anger that passed over her face. "I wasn't aware I was meant to," she answered calmly.

"Fine, woman, I'll do it," he said, but he didn't sound like he was real happy about it.

When we ordered and the person at the cash register told Gabe the price, his face turned purple. "That's ridiculous," he snorted. "Robbery, that is." And Gabe started cussing out the poor random worker, who started sputtering and turning red. Gabe even said some words I didn't know.

Mom was as embarrassed as the worker. I bet she came across jerks like him at the candy store sometimes. "Gabriel, just stop it. I can pay." He backed off, breathing heavily like he'd just been in an intense fight.

The rest of the time we were with Gabe, he acted like a total jerk. I don't know why Mom said this meant so much to her, but since it did, I just kept my mouth shut for most of the time. It was hard when he started talking about me.

"So what's with this kid anyways?" he asked with his mouth full. "He don't talk much. You don't talk much, do you, kiddo?"

"He just takes a while to get used to new people," Mom replied.

"Huh. Well, we'll be good buddies in no time, won't we, kid?" He flashed a disgusting smile at me. I wanted to toss my drink in his face.

When dinner was over, Gabe staggered up. "Well, nice meetin' ya, Sally," he said, giving us another whiff of his smoky breath that now also smelled of his supper. I think I might have grimaced just a little. Gabe was so smelly! Smelly Gabe, I thought. A fitting nickname. "Real nice one, you are. I've taken a liking to you." he winked, but it looked more like he was trying to disfigure his face.

We finally got into our car and drove away from Smelly Gabe. When we did, I blurted, "Mom, don't ever date him again!"

She didn't answer, but I knew she was thinking the same thing.

It turned out I was wrong about that. In August, while we were on our annual trip to Montauk, my very favorite place in the whole world, for my birthday, she laid the big news on me.

She was getting married to Smelly Gabe. The minute the words came out of my mouth, I started crying. Yeah, I'm not much of a crying kind of guy, but imagine the grossest guy you know. Then imagine him being your stepdad. Dare you _not _to cry!

"Why?" I asked. "I don't like him. He's smelly and mean and... and I don't like him!"

"I know you don't," she said sadly. "I don't like him much, either."

"Then why are you marrying him?" I wailed. She frowned at me, and I realized that she hadn't been done talking.

"I have to, Percy. I have to marry him. You'll know why when you're older."

I didn't want to know when I was older. I wanted to know now. "But he's too mean for you," I sobbed. "You need someone nice... like Dad..." I knew he wouldn't ever let Mom get married to Smelly Gabe if he was here. Who cares about what I'm going to know when I'm older?

"No, don't say that. Your dad is part of the reason I have to." Then she must have really felt bad for me, because she got me ice cream, which I ate, but it didn't make me feel a whole lot less miserable.

And that was why my seventh birthday was my worst one yet.

* * *

***Percy mentions that situation on page 40 of The Lightning Thief**

****the "moldy garlic pizza..." description came from The Lightning Thief, page 30**


	2. A Very Smelly Wedding

**Doc Manager is being really weird! It's forcing me to indent my paragraphs... Anyway, I'm back with a shorter chapter, I hope you like it! Props to ****The Sparkly Potato****, ****Mandi2341****, ****InfinitePanicAttacks33****, and ****creamtherabbit77**** for reviewing the last chapter! I did a Snoopy-style Happy Dance around the computer when I woke up the day after I put up the first chapter to find my inbox flooded with emails from the fanfiction bots! :D **

* * *

My mom got married to Smelly Gabe in October. There weren't a lot of people there, just some friends of Mom's and Gabe's. Gabe's friends were all fat, ugly, and beer-loving.

Kind of like him.

At the wedding, I was the ring dragon.

When Mom told me that I was going to be the ring boy, or, I guess the real word is ring _bearer, _I didn't like it too much. What's the point of carrying the stupid ring down the aisle on a pillow? And why couldn't Mom or Gabe do it?

Besides, bears are dumb. Well, they're okay, but just kind of boring. Why would I be the ring bear? I wanted to be something cooler. I told Mom that and she said I could think of a better name.

"What's your favorite animal?" she asked me.

That was easy. Dragons are the coolest thing ever. "Dragons!" I said proudly. "Dragons are the best. They can fly and breathe fire!"

"Then that's solved; you can be the ring dragon."

"Can I fly and breathe fire?"

"No, but you get to carry the ring down the aisle, and that's pretty special."

I still didn't get the point, but at least now that I was a dragon instead of a bear I was fine with it.

* * *

The night before the wedding we had to... do the wedding. Mom told me it was so everyone would know what to do for the real thing, but it was still boring. All I had to do was make sure the ring didn't fall off the pillow while I was walking. It was easy. The pillow wasn't like a real pillow, though. It was way too small, and at the boring parts, I tried to lay on it, but it wasn't comfortable at all.

There was only one other person who was my age there, and she was the daughter of one of Mom's friends. Her name was Isabelle. She had kind of the same job as me, but not as important, because all she had to do was throw flowers.

Okay, I'll tell the truth, I kind of wanted to throw the flowers too. I tried to steal the basket so I could, but Isabelle took it away from me.

"No! You can't have my basket of flowers," she said.

"Why not? I just want to throw them. Only... five?"

"No!" she repeated, and hugged the basket. "They're mine. You have the ring."

"I'm the ring dragon," I told her, proud to tell my official title to someone.

"Don't be silly," she said. Like she knew better than I did.

Isabelle was really annoying. Not as annoying as Smelly Gabe and his friends, though. That same night, we ate food, and they were all being loud and spilling food and talking with their mouths full. I was surprised Mom didn't say anything. It really wasn't fair, because I knew if I did that, I would get in trouble for bad manners.

* * *

On the day of the actual wedding, we had to be there way before anyone else was, to get ready and take pictures.

"You can't make funny faces for these pictures, Percy," Mom told me before I changed into my suit. (Yuck! A suit! And a tie! I feel like I'm being hanged when I wear a tie.)

"No funny faces?" I asked, kind of sad. What I really wanted to say was that Gabe's face always looked funny, but Mom had told me again that this meant a lot to her, and I knew I shouldn't. I still wished she would tell me why, though.

"No funny faces," she answered, and she looked serious, so I knew she meant it.

We took pictures, and I had to stand next to the annoying Isabelle for all of them. I tried to throw the flowers again, but she wouldn't let me.

"After the wedding, can I throw the flowers?" I asked.

"They'll be all gone by then," she said. "All over the floor. If you want to pick them up from there you can." Then she stuck her tongue out at me.

It isn't hard to tell why she was so annoying.

Since it was October, it wasn't really hot, but it was in the church. I was sweating like I just ran a mile! I think I ran a mile one time, when I was playing soccer at recess. I ran a lot and afterwards I felt like my lungs were going to burst.

The people started coming, and if anyone asked me who I was I told them I was the ring dragon. Whenever I did that Isabelle told me to stop lying to them. But I wasn't lying, and everyone except her seemed to believe me.

Then the real thing started, and it took forever. I was supposed to come in right after Gabe's friend Eric, who's even fatter than Gabe himself. Yeah, I didn't believe it when I saw him either. He looked like he could hardly fit into his suit, and we got the biggest ones they had! After me would be Isabelle. At least she'll be behind me so I don't have to look at her. I don't like looking at her! She's annoying!

Isabelle tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Don't you dare mess this up. It is my first famous moment and _you_ are _not_ going to ruin it."

"I'm the ring dragon. I can't mess up." I had been telling her this since the beginning of time!

Then she hit me! Yeah, she actually hit me! It didn't hurt or anything, because I'm tougher than that, but still! I had to turn around and hit her back. When I did that she looked like she just had a heart attack! Well, I don't know for sure, but she looked surprised. And mad.

"You can't hit a girl!" she said, crossing her arms.

"You hit me," I replied. That was dumb. She hit me first, why couldn't I hit her back?

"Yes, but you're a boy. That means I can hit you, but you can't hit me."

"That's not fair."

"Yes it is."

Then Mom got my attention, and she pointed at the door. I realized that Eric was already almost to the end of the aisle and I should go now! I stood up straight and started walking. I was the ring dragon, and Isabelle was not going to make me mad.

That's when the worst thing happened. I looked down to see the shiny rings that I was doing so great at not dropping, when I realized they weren't there. The pillow was totally empty. Now it was my turn to have a heart attack - again. I was halfway there already, I couldn't stop and look for them now! Gabe was going to kill me! Mom was going to be sad! She even told me that this meant a lot to her, and what do I do? I lose the rings.

It's Isabelle's fault, I thought. If she hadn't hit me I would have had time to notice that they were gone so I could look for them.

I was fit to be tired! Or maybe the saying said tied. It's what Mom said when she was in a mess, so I thought it would fit right now.

When I reached the end and turned around, there she was, the ruiner of this whole entire wedding, throwing her flowers and looking all innocent.

When it was time to do the rings, I was already feeling guilty for losing them. Isabelle ruined it, and now I was going to be the ring dragon who lost the rings.

Then Eric took them out of his pocket! I couldn't believe it! How did he have them? Did he steal them from me when I was talking to Isabelle? Why would Eric steal the rings? When we practiced last night he didn't steal them.

Oh, well. I was just glad that the wedding wasn't ruined so Mom wouldn't have to be sad.

* * *

There was a party after the wedding, but it was a really boring party. All people did was sit around and eat cake. I had three pieces of cake. It was ice cream cake and it was the best thing ever. It almost made me forget being mad at Isabelle.

Almost. When I saw her I went right over to her and told her how she almost ruined the wedding.

"Don't be silly," she said, smiling like she was smarter than me or something. She wishes. "You didn't have to hit me back. And besides, the rings you had weren't even real."

"I know," I said, even though I didn't. But she already thought she was smarter than me, and I didn't want to make it even worse.

"Did you?" she asked. She annoyed me so much. "Eric had the real rings in his pocket the whole time, you were just clumsy enough to lose the fake ones. You know, that's why you didn't have the real ones. You're a clumsy little boy."

"I am not, I'm the ring dragon and I was the best ring dragon there ever was!"

"Because dragons don't exist."

I think I might actually have an enemy. A real enemy. I was so glad that I wouldn't have to see her again.

* * *

**You guys don't know how bad I wanted to say "SCRATCH CANON!" and make the "annoying flower girl" be Annabeth. But sadly, this is canon, so it was not meant to be. It makes me very sad.**


	3. Bean Dip is Not a Christmas Present

**I think I may have made Percy be a little too mature for his age here. Maybe. Longest chapter yet! It's also not the whole thing, but I didn't have it finished and since I made you all wait for an update for almost a whole week, I thought I better give you what I've got. I think I stopped it at a good place, though. It's not too much of a cliffhanger! :D And I'm having friends over tomorrow so I won't be able to update then. I got the Les Miserables Highlights CD and I've been playing it 24/7... I'm addicted, guys. **

**I joined a PJO forum! They're fun, and kind of addicting, but really confusing when you're talking to like 5 different characters at the same time!**

* * *

Second grade wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I made it to December without any weird stuff happening!

Of course, I had to live with Smelly Gabe now, and that wasn't a party.

He was always having his friends over, for one thing. That wouldn't be too bad, except for that all they did was sit around, eat, play poker, and drink beer. One time I found an empty bottle in the hallway. I picked it up and smelled it, and it smelled really, really gross. Why would anyone want to drink that stuff? Maybe it tasted better than it smelled. I don't know, there wasn't any left for me to see for myself.

Of all the ugly, lazy, smelly guys who were always hanging around our apartment, Gabe was the fattest, ugliest, laziest, and definitely the smelliest of them all. He had a job, something with electronics, I think, but I don't know how he did it, because every time I was home, so was he.

So, for the first time in my whole life, the best part of the day was when I was at school. That was weird, and it kind of made me a little scared. What if something happened again and I had to stop going to school? It wasn't really a 'what if'. Something was going to happen.

It was the week before Christmas when something happened. It wasn't another stalker, which was good, but it was Gabe. Which was bad.

For a while, I thought a boy in my class named Ryan Jefferson was a monster with a really good disguise, but I don't think he really was now. He's just really, really mean to me. He's not mean to the other kids, just me, and I didn't get it. He would always make fun of me for not being able to read as good as the rest of the class. He was right, too. I couldn't read very good, but I wasn't stupid, like he said. I don't know why I couldn't do it. I hated being picked to read out loud, and Ryan knew it, so he always picked me.

I asked Mom and she said that I shouldn't think he was a monster, just a bully. She told me that some kids were just going to be mean, not because they were trying to attack me, but because it made them feel better.

Yeah. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, either.

Back to what happened the week before Christmas. My teacher said that we were going to do Secret Santas in our class. We had to listen to a whole big speech about how everyone in this class was a good person - except Ryan, I added, but I didn't say it out loud because I'd get in trouble - and that no matter who we got, we had to give them a good gift that they would like.

Then she pulled out a hat and said that everyone's name was on a piece of paper in that hat. We would take turns picking names, and we weren't allowed to get ourself. I ended up going last, so I just took the last paper that was in there. The name took me a few minutes to read, because the letters kept floating around. It was annoying. Finally I got it, though.

I had to get 'nice gifts' for Ryan Jefferson.

* * *

I told Mom about the whole thing when I got home. I thought she was going to call my teacher and ask for me to switch people, but I was wrong. She told me that maybe if I did this for him he wouldn't be so mean to me, and that mean people can become nice if someone is nice to them.

I wanted to tell Mom that was a bunch of baloney. But I'd get in trouble. Why am I always trying to _not_ get in trouble?

"Here you go, here's some money. Go find presents for Ryan. I think I gave you enough to find something for every day for the rest of this week." Mom handed me some money. "Now I have to go make Gabe's bean dip, he's been begging for it all weekend, but I have to get the ingredients first." She left my room and I sighed. I guess there wasn't a way I was getting out of this. I slid off my bed and went downstairs, hoping I wouldn't run into Smelly Gabe on my way out.

I shouldn't have thought I'd be able to.

"Hey, kid! Where are you going?" he shouted from the living room, where him and his friends were playing poker on a coffee table.

"Out," I said, and turned to leave, but he shouted again.

"Come in here a minute."

I didn't know if I should be worried or not, but I was worried anyway. I went into the living room. Gabe threw down a card, then looked over at me. "You got money?"

"Um... what?" I asked, trying to sound tough. I'd tried sounding innocent before with Smelly Gabe. It didn't work.

"Cut the act, kid. Tell me, you got money?"

"No," I lied. Mom told me I shouldn't lie to people who... uhh... have something on me. Oh, yeah. Authority. Over me. But Gabe doesn't count, at least not for me. He shouldn't have... _authority _on me. I think authority means he can do bad stuff to me if I don't obey him.

"You're a right little liar, aren't you?" Smelly Gabe frowned, squinting his tiny eyes at me. "You are. You have cash, I know you do. Where you goin' if you aren't goin' to the store?"

"A friend's house," I said quickly.

"You don't have friends. Who'd be friends with you?" He reached up and grabbed me in a headlock. "Mommy isn't here to call to now, kid. Turn out your pockets. All of 'em."

I felt like I was going to cry and be sick at the same time as I turned out my pockets. The money Mom gave me to get Ryan's Secret Santa presents was on the floor for Gabe to put a foot over.

"Mine now. Listen, you gave this to me, okay? It's what you'll do whenever I ask you if you have cash. It'll be our guy secret, okay? Sally doesn't need to know." He popped his knuckles to tell me what would happen if she did.

I ran back up to my room, not waiting for Gabe to tell me he was done talking. I didn't care. He was a bully just like Ryan, and even worse. Ryan didn't steal my money, he just called me mean names. One time Gabe stole some of the candy bars I had under my bed. Well, he never told me, but I knew it was him. When I tried to tell Mom how mean he was to me she didn't even really listen. Actually, she listened, but pretended she didn't hear me. It wasn't fair!

Why was it so important to her to get married to Smelly Gabe? When I'm older, she told me. When I'm older I'll know why she married Smelly Gabe. When I'm older I'll be able to meet my dad. When I'm older I'll find out why weird gross monsters follow me.

Why does everything have to happen when I'm older? I want to know now.

I still needed a Secret Santa present for Ryan, though. There was only one thing I could think of that might be an okay present. I reached under my bed and pulled out a shoe box that used to have at least fifteen candy bars in it! It took me a while to count all them. But now I had... two. For four days left of the week.

For the second time, I felt like I was going to cry and be sick. But this time I actually did kind of cry. Kind of. I didn't really cry, my eyes just got a little wet. Stupid Gabe and his stupid guy secret.

* * *

The next day at school, we did the Secret Santa gift exchange. I got a jar full of caramels, which I knew I would have to hide the minute I got home, because Gabe could smell candy from a mile away. And I don't think our apartment is a mile big. It might be, but I don't think so.

Ryan got his candy bar, and he just threw it in his backpack and started playing with the present his friend Mark got, which was a plane that you can put together and fly.

The day I was worrying about came soon. The second day, Wednesday, I gave him my last candy bar, and it went pretty much the same way as the day before, and I got a giant chocolate bar. I ate a lot of it before Mom picked me up, because I didn't know how long I could keep something that big hidden from Smelly Gabe.

"How does Ryan like his presents?" Mom asked when she picked me up on Wednesday.

"He likes them okay," I said. It wasn't really a lie. He didn't seem to hate them.

"Well that's good. You reveal who you have on Friday, right?"

I forgot about that. What was going to happen when he found out that I was the one who gave him nothing? And I wouldn't have anything to give him. I needed to find something before then. "Um, yeah we do." Then I stopped talking for the rest of the way home, because I thought she would ask me what I got him and I wouldn't be able to say, nothing because Gabe stole my money. I didn't want to lie to Mom. She had _authority_ over me.

The next day, when Ryan found out he didn't have anything, he started yelling. Like I thought. He was gonna be so mad at me tomorrow, when he found out who _me _was.

The teacher got him to calm down, and she said to the whole class, "Tomorrow when I find out who it is, I will be having a serious talk with Ryan's Secret Santa. I told you that everyone in this class deserves a nice gift, and Ryan didn't get anything."

"Yeah!" Ryan added. "I guess there are just some mean people in this class."

It was so not fair. Ryan was the mean one, but I was going to get in trouble! First Smelly Gabe, now this. If my mom never married him, this would never have happened, I thought.

That night, I was starting to really panic. I wanted to pretend I was sick so I wouldn't have to go to school with no present for Ryan, but then I would be home all day with Smelly Gabe. That would stink. Literally.

I went down to the kitchen and started looking through the refrigerator for something, anything, I could take as a present. Then I saw Gabe's leftover bean dip. He was always begging Mom to make it, so it must be really good. Maybe that would be a good present! I found a plastic bag, scooped some of the bean dip into it, and took the bag up to my room. Maybe, just maybe, this would turn out okay.

The first thing we did at school on our last day before Christmas was the Secret Santa final gift exchange. We were giving our gifts in alphabetical order. I think that means that if your last name starts with A you go first and if it starts with Z you go last. Mine started with J. I wasn't good at spelling, but I did know how to spell my name.

The first kid was a boy named Adam somebody, but I guess his last name started with A even though I didn't know what it was. He was the one who had me. He gave me a box full of brownies. They smelled really good.

By the time it was my turn, I was sweating and kind of maybe nervous. I stood in the front of the class and said, "I had Ryan." Ryan almost jumped out of his chair to come get his present. When he grabbed it from me, he made a face.

"What's this?" he asked. "It looks totally gross."

"It's bean dip!" I announced proudly. "Smel-er, my stepdad loves it. He begs for it all the time."

Ryan smelled it. "Smells weird. Why didn't you give me anything yesterday? Are you the mean one in this class?" I couldn't believe him sometimes.

The teacher frowned at me. "That's right. Ryan, go ahead, it's your turn. Percy, I need to have a talk with you in the hallway." She would ask me why I didn't give Ryan anything, and I couldn't tell her the truth, because if I did she'd call my mom and she'd talk to Smelly Gabe and then he would know that I told on him and I'd get in trouble.

But if I lied I'd still get in trouble because I would have to say something like I bought stuff for myself.

My life is a mess. It's messier than the bean dip that Ryan hates.

"Percy, I need to talk to you," the teacher repeated.

"No!" I blurted out, grabbed my coat, and ran out the back door. The back door of my classroom went right outside instead of into the hallway. It was snowing, and it was cold, but for me it was better than being in there.

I sat down on the curb.

My life was a mess.


	4. Percy Jackson vs The World

**If you haven't looked at my profile (although honestly, I doubt any of you have, and I don't really blame you on that one) then I'll say it here, too: I will be updating Grade School Misadventures every Friday, at least until I start school again. So, after today, that takes us to five more chapters before I go back to school. And that's if I don't suddenly go on a writing binge and type so hard I wear the letters off my keyboard. **

**Shout outs to creamtherabbit77, The Minun, and Wise-Girl 826 for reviewing chapter 2, My Quiet Riot for reviewing chapter 3, and ultimate awesomesauceness to Mandi2341 and violleet for reviewing BOTH chapters! Well, I think I've run out of important matters to address, so I'll let you get on to reading the chapter, which is a direct continuation from the last one, so go back and read that if you forgot what happened! **

* * *

I sat on the curb in the snow for a while, because I felt really bad. Kind of like I felt all week, like crying and throwing up, but this time I just felt like I wanted to go sleep somewhere and wake up in a week. Or maybe when second grade could be over.

Maybe it was depression. I think that's what you call it when someone gets really, really sad about something. Then they never want to leave their house and they like to be in the dark. It's true, I saw a History Channel show about it.

I was still holding my box of brownies that had a fancy ribbon tied around it. I was kind of hungry. If I hadn't ran for it, I would probably be having snack time right now. So I untied the ribbon, and right away it slipped off and fell into a rain gutter. I looked down after it, but it was already out of sight.

The brownies were good. I ate three of them. Then I started feeling sick all over again. What was I going to do now? I wasn't going back. Would I have to live on the run like in the movies?

What was it they called people who were on the run and couldn't let anyone find them? Fudge something. Right? Oh! Yeah. Fugitive. I was a fugitive!

I had watched enough movies to know the rules of being on the run. You can't look back, you can't look suspicious, you can't go back to a place you've already been. In the movies that's always where the guy gets caught.

I hadn't brought my backpack, that was still at school, but I couldn't go back to school, so I took the plastic bag of brownies out of the box and stuffed it in my coat pocket. Then I threw the box across the street as far as I could. That was called a false trail, and it was in every detective show I ever watched. The people chasing me, like my mom who would be mad that I hadn't used the money to buy stuff for Ryan, my teacher who wants to have a serious talk about me, and Smelly Gabe, well I don't know why but he probably wants to beat me up or something, would think I went to a different place than I really did, because I did a false trail.

Then I didn't know what to do. Money would probably be a good thing to have, so I dug around in my pockets looking for anything. I pulled out two quarters and a few nickels. Not even enough to buy a pack of gum, I knew from checking the vending machines at school for extra coins.

So I walked some more, and after a few minutes I realized I couldn't even see school anymore. That made me kind of scared, because I only knew a few streets that were close to my house, and where I was, was not any of them. There was a place I knew that I saw across the street, though.

It was the sandwich shop where I met Smelly Gabe. I never wanted to go in there again, and it still didn't help me know how far away I was from my house. I hadn't seen the place since last spring, and that was almost a year ago. That's forever, if you didn't know. So I didn't remember how Mom drove home then, because it was forever ago. Make sense?

There was a McDonald's next to the sandwich shop, though. I wanted to go in there, because I like french fries, and I also want a milkshake. I haven't had one in a long time, though, because there was always never enough time when Mom picked me up from school or drove me places. She always said there wasn't enough time, but I didn't think that was really true, because one time when she said that, we stopped at the grocery store to get stuff so she could make bean dip. I never told her I thought she was lying, because she said I shouldn't do that unless I was absolutely sure they were. And to be sure, I had to have proof.

One time I asked her what proof was, just so I could make sure. She said it was kind of like the same thing as the clues in Scooby-Doo.

But I couldn't go into McDonald's because I might be seen. If no one there knew me then I don't think it would be really bad, but in the movies no one who's on the run wants to be seen. So I kept walking, past the sandwich shop, past the McDonald's, down a few other streets I didn't know, when I thought I should try and find the candy store Mom worked at. It was called Sweet on America, and I'd been there after school a lot, so I knew what it looked like. I still couldn't be seen, because then I would get caught, but at least if I got there then I could know where I was.

But where was it? After walking down a few more streets, I sat down on a bench and thought about what else worked in detective movies about being on the run. I didn't let myself be seen, and I didn't stay in one place, and I did a false trail. What else? I still wasn't getting anywhere, and I was thinking that I was a really bad fudge - er, fugitive.

That was when I saw the alley. It was right across from the bench where I was sitting, and it looked like it popped straight out of a detective movie! The people on the run were always taking shortcuts through alleys, and when they came out of the alley, they were usually at a place where they wanted to be. A safe place. Where Ryan, and my teacher, and Smelly Gabe can't get me.

I was kind of scared of the dark. There, I said it, and I'll never say it again, but I was kind of scared of the dark. Wait a minute, I said it again! I'm stupid. I didn't want to go in the alley, but I felt really bad and I needed to get to somewhere I couldn't be found.

I also kind of needed to go to the bathroom.

So I walked across the street, being really careful so I wouldn't get run over, and started walking through the alley. I was in the dark in a few seconds, and I was kind of scared (but if anyone asks, I totally wasn't) and I still needed to go to the bathroom. But I would get through the alley soon! Then I could find a Porta-Potty and maybe even Mom's store!

Something closed over my mouth, and I couldn't tell what it was. Then I was pulled back and I realized that it was a person's hand. Someone had grabbed me and put a hand over my mouth! Were they kidnapping me? Whenever I got the milk from the refrigerator there was one of those pictures of a kid who got kidnapped. Would my picture be on the milk carton? This wasn't supposed to happen, I was supposed to go through the alley, and find Mom's store, and find a bathroom, and run away, and never be seen again!

"Shouldn't you be in school, kiddie?" a voice asked. It was a mean voice, like Smelly Gabe's, but this one sounded more dangerous. Gabe's voice sounded like "I'm a lazy bum but I can still beat you up" but this guy sounded like "I'm going to rip your throat out and eat you for breakfast!" There was a guy on the news who had a voice like that, and when I told Mom that his voice sounded like that, she told me I was watching too many scary movies. Now it was like I lived in a scary movie! NOT COOOOOL!

I couldn't even scream, because there was a hand over my mouth! It was a sweaty hand, too, and it felt really gross. The guy with the bad voice talked again.

"Okay, now you're gonna come with me, and you're gonna be good about it, too. Then we'll all have fun together." I tried to kick and punch him, but he had two other guys standing in front of me. One was holding a wooden baseball bat and the other one had something, and it looked like it was made of metal, and it was big, and I think it could probably kill me.

It was official, I was never, ever, ever, ever, ever going in an alley again, I don't care if I couldn't be seen, I didn't care if I had to hold going to the bathroom for two hours, I didn't care, I didn't care. What if I never even got a chance to choose if I was going in an alley again? What if the guy with the bad voice and his friends killed me? Or sold me as a slave?

The bad-voice guy started dragging be down the alley in the same direction as I had been going before he grabbed me, and something cold was against my throat. I tried to look down at it, so I would know what it was, but then it kind of twisted against my throat and I felt a warm liquid start to slide down my neck. I started to feel dizzy and sick. Was that blood? Was that a knife? I was going to die, I was going to die, I was going to die...

Then the guy's hand wasn't on me anymore. There was no knife. There was still blood, but I was shoved away from bad-voice guy so hard that I fell on the ground and scraped my hands and knees. I was wearing jeans, but it still hurt my knees. I felt like I was going to throw up, and the world was spinning. What happened? Were they just going to kill me now? I was grabbed again and dragged through the alley, only this time whoever was dragging me wasn't cutting my throat and he was running. I kept tripping over my shoes because he was going too fast and I felt sick.

And there was light. I was back in the street, and it was snowing, and I still felt bad. The guy who dragged me out wasn't bad-voice guy or either of his friends. He looked a little younger than my mom, and he had brown hair, a short beard, and green eyes. He had a nice face, I thought, and I decided I liked him. Anyone who got me away from the guy with the bad voice and the sweaty gross hands was someone I liked.

"I don't know what you think you were doing, going in there," the guy said. He sounded kind of mad, but not like he wanted to hurt me, like the other guys did.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That's not important, you could have gotten yourself killed in there. You need to come with me, you're hurt."

I touched my neck where the knife was, and when I pulled my hand back there was a little blood on it. When I saw my blood I got kind of dizzy again, and I couldn't see straight. It lasted a few seconds, and when I could finally look up without feeling like hurling, I saw I was at Mom's store. I didn't think about being seen, I didn't think about running, I was just happy to see a place I knew, where I wasn't going to get attacked in the dark.

"Go inside, find your mom," the guy who rescued me said. "Forget running away."

He knew I was running away? "How did you-"

"Go." He turned away, but I wasn't done talking to him.

"But what's your name? Can't you tell me that?"

He hesitated. "My name's... Hank. Hank Brown." He turned to leave again, but I grabbed the sleeve of his coat.

"Why did you save me?"

He looked down at me, and I felt like he was really smart, like he could tell me everything in the world, that he was... somehow different.

"Because it was not your time to die, Perseus Jackson. You have a destiny far greater than that."

Did he mean I couldn't die? He knew my name? I had a destiny? What even was a destiny? I was kind of getting a headache from all the questions I had, but before I could ask any more, he was gone. Just like that. Gone. I didn't even see him leave. He just wasn't there.

"Percy?" a familiar voice asked. Mom. "Percy, why aren't you at school? Is that - is that _blood_ on your neck? What have you been doing?"

Yeah. I had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

A middle-aged man with brown hair and bright green eyes stepped onto the elevator of the Empire State Building, where the Beatles were playing.

"Mmmm... not my choice of music," the man mused softly, and snapped his fingers. Immediately the music changed to AC/DC's Back in Black. "Six hundredth floor, please," he said out loud, and the elevator began to move up. The man, who was at the moment going under the alias of Hank Brown, sighed and rubbed his forehead. That Jackson boy was too unpredictable for his own good. He would have to be watched more carefully. If he hadn't been saved when he was... well, how about we say bad things would happen. The boy may be the future of Olympus, for Zeus's sake!

Finally the elevator rumbled to a halt, and opened on Mount Olympus itself.

"Poseidon!" Zeus rumbled, sitting on his throne. "What brings you out of the briny deep, brother?"

Poseidon - aka Hank Brown - cast a look of dismay on the king of the gods. "Zeus, I think we need to talk."

"What about?" Zeus inquired, observing his master bolt with casual interest.

"I daresay you remember that oath we made years ago, regarding our having children?"

* * *

**Violleet, your suggestion. I wasn't originally going to do it, but then I was attacked by the infamous Plot Bunny and Poseidon made a little visit to his son! See y'all next Friday, if all goes as planned! I love looking at my traffic graph and seeing big numbers on the days I update :) Oooh, do you think we can get up to 100 views this time? Last week we were in the 90s! **


	5. Percy Thinks He Has a Terminal Illness

**It's Friday, Friday, gotta update on Friday! ...Yeah. I can stick to a schedule! Yay! Does anyone know what PJO event is taking place next week? *everybody raises their hand* THE SEA OF MONSTERS! I'm probably NOT going to go see it, actually, because I really hated the first one and I would be so sad if they messed up the second just as much. I really hope they won't go all the way through the Last Olympian. *fingers crossed* But I'll rant about that later. Right now, here's a chapter! **

* * *

I actually didn't get in huge trouble after what happened at Christmas. I guess Mom was happy I was alive after I told her what happened to me, and I wasn't supposed to know this, but I heard Mom call the school and she sounded mad. I guess they never told her I ran away. That's kind of stupid, really, because if anyone could find me it was Mom. I tried to run away from Montauk in August, when I found out Mom was marrying Smelly Gabe, and I didn't make it past the beach.

It was weird going back to school in January, because Ryan hated me even more. And I don't think my teacher really liked me that much anymore, either. Maybe it was because she never got to have that serious talk with me. Or maybe it was because Mom made her look stupid.

But it wasn't really that different than it was before, except some kids who I'd never talked to before would be nice to me. Mom said it was because they looked up to me for being brave. I don't know. I never thought what I did was brave, and I guess my teacher didn't either, because whenever she heard someone talking about what I did in December, they had to go sit in the hall for a time-out.

The thing that happened in January wasn't so good, though. We had a reading test, where we went out in the hall with the teacher and read something, and she gave us a grade about how good we read, or something. I wasn't happy about that. because I didn't like reading. I wasn't good at it, either. So when it was my turn to take the test, I walked into the hall all grumpy.

"All right, Percy," the teacher said in a kind voice that didn't go with her face. She gave me a piece of paper with some words on it and told me to read as far as I could until she told me to stop. She took out a timer and pressed some buttons, then told me to start.

The second she said that, I looked down at the paper and tried to read what it said, but I couldn't make it out. My brain felt kind of fuzzy, like I couldn't think straight, and the letters on the page looked all floaty.

"I... um..." I strained my eyes to be able to see what it said, but I couldn't even talk because I felt like my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. "J.. Jack and Mary..." The letters were changing places or something. They wouldn't stay in one place long enough for me to read it. I could feel my face turning red. At least this wasn't in front of everyone. But I still felt stupid. Why couldn't I read? Was there something wrong with me?

Then the timer beeped, and I threw down the paper. I wanted to be done with this dumb reading test already. I could feel tears starting to come. I would have to hold them back as well as I could. I'd feel even stupider if I started to _cry _over a reading test.

My teacher was frowning. There was something wrong with me, I knew she was going to say it. She was going to say I had a bad disease that made me not be able to read, and I was going to die, and... and...

"You may go back to the classroom, Percy," was all she said. What? Why? Wasn't there something wrong with me? I couldn't read!

I went back to the classroom like she told me to. But I still felt stupid.

* * *

When I got picked up from school that day, we didn't go right home or in the direction of Mom's candy store. I've started paying attention to that stuff ever since Christmas.

"Mom? Where are we going? To visit one of your friends?" I asked. It had been a long time since we visited Mom's friends. She said it was because we didn't have time.

"No, Percy, we're going to go visit the doctor," Mom said.

"The doctor?" I repeated. "Why?" I didn't like the doctor. Everything was too clean and too white.

Mom sighed. It was the sigh that she always did when she was about to get a headache. "I got a phone call from your teacher today," she said. Then I started getting all nervous again. Did she tell Mom about how I can't read? Was the doctor going to tell me that something was wrong with me? "She said we should make an appointment with the doctor, and I agreed, because she was right. You'll just have to do some tests, and that's all. Nothing scary, nothing hard."

She was trying to calm me down, but I didn't want to be calm. Well, I did, but I couldn't. I had a sickness, I knew it for sure now.

When we got to the doctor, we sat in the waiting room for a long time. It was really hot in there. I was too old for all the toys they had on the tables, and I would feel like a little kid if I started playing with them, so I picked up a book. Just to see if I still couldn't read, or it got worse. I guess it was the nervousness that made it worse, because the letters were more floaty and jumpy than usual. I always knew I wasn't good at reading, but I never thought there was something _wrong _with me. I think I'd rather just be stupid.

Finally they called my name. "Percy Jackson!" Mom stood up and I did the same. We followed the person in the white coat - what's with the white coats anyway? And why white? Blue was better. - to a normal looking doctor's room. Is that what you call it? A doctor room? I'm not sure, really. We sat there for a while. Mom answered some questions.

Then the doctor came in and asked Mom more questions. After she answered them, he asked me stuff. Just stuff about what happened when I read, how the letters looked. Mom was right, it wasn't hard. Even though I felt stupid trying to read, I had no problem just talking normally.

The doctor left and we waited around for a while. I kept looking at the posters on the wall, even though I didn't want to because they had weird pictures of the inside of people's bodies. I was kind of glad I couldn't read the words on them.

When the doctor came back, he was smiling, and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. He started by saying, "Good news, it's not anything serious, like a brain tumor or other mental disease."

So there was nothing wrong with me? Then why couldn't I read?

But he wasn't done talking. He continued, "However, Percy does have ADHD, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder."

I think disorders are bad. I don't know for sure what they are, but I think they're bad. I glanced over at Mom, but she didn't look surprised or worried or... anything.

"They are pretty common disorders, and once you're used to it, you can get along fine. It only takes some adjustments, and of course, it will never be easy to read or sit still for too long."

Well, maybe that's not too bad. I didn't like reading, and I also didn't like sitting still.

The doctor said some more stuff, but I wasn't really listening. I was just pretty happy that I wasn't going to die. Who cares about reading? Who cares about sitting still?

* * *

Smelly Gabe and Mom got in a fight that night. It was interesting to watch, but I didn't really like it, because they were arguing about me. It was interesting because I'd never seen Mom yell at Gabe. When he was being a jerk, she usually tried to ignore him.

When Mom told him I had ADHD and Lexi something and that other thing, he started freaking out, saying that they should put me in a mental hospital or send me to a special school. Mom tried to tell him that tons of people have it, and she wasn't really mad yet. She started getting mad when Gabe pointed a chubby finger at me and said loudly, "I don't want a... a _retard _in the house!"

Mom said I wasn't a retard, I would just have attention problems, and soon they were both yelling. I didn't know Mom could be that... scary. If I was Gabe I'd be smart and stop arguing.

I knew retard wasn't a nice name. It was what people called Daniel Miller in my class. He was weird, and would never talk to anyone, and was always coloring the sky green on his coloring pages. He acted like he couldn't even hear us. It was weird. Still, I don't think they should call him that. I'm not going to be his friend or anything - he's way too weird - but I'm not mean to him.

After Mom and Gabe's fight was over, Mom took me up to my room, told me I wasn't a retard, that Gabe didn't mean it, that he was just surprised at the news. (Like I believed that.)

"Why didn't you seem surprised?" I asked. Not once did she look surprised, not when I was answering questions, not when the doctor told us.

"You're not going to like my answer," she replied.

"Oh... what is it?" I asked, even though I thought I knew what it would be.

"You'll know when you're older," she said, and I almost said it right along with her. I heard that way too much. What's so good about getting older, anyway?

* * *

**So... I don't have ADHD or dyslexia, so I don't know how they'd diagnose it or test for it or anything, so the doctor's office part might not be accurate. I tried to make it as generic as possible so I didn't get too much wrong, though... **

**ALSO! THANK YOU TO CREAMTHERABBIT77 AND A GUEST FOR TELLING ME THAT I SCREWED UP! Percy does have ADHD and ADD, but he ALSO has dyslexia, which is what made it hard for him to read. I feel like such an idiot now :3 **


	6. Cupid Chocolatiers

**It's not Friday, but I'm still here for a special edition chapter in honor of a PJO event happening today... The Sea of Monsters. *collective sigh* I haven't seen it, and I don't intend to anytime soon, but I was just on and the reviews are already bashing it. Supposedly, the ending has set it up for yet another movie... You guys do realize that if they go all the way up through The Last Olympian, the girl who plays Annabeth will be, like, 30? At least for Sea of Monsters they got Annabeth blond, and Mr. D. is actually listed in the cast of characters after his complete absence from the first movie. **

**I guess I'll be done talking about this, because if I try to say everything wrong with the it, we'll be here all day. (CinemaSins did a video about everything wrong with The Lightning Thief! Look it up on YouTube! They clearly didn't read the book, but it's still a funny video!) Here's your bonus chapter thing. I hope it helps you all survive the second round of canon abuse. Saw the movie? Let me know what you thought of it!**

* * *

After I went to the doctor, everything was kind of normal for a while. I never had to read out loud in class, I didn't get picked on too much except by the mean kids like Ryan, who was still mad I didn't get in trouble for giving him Gabe's bean dip for a Secret Santa gift.

In April, my teacher announced that we were going to go on a field trip to a chocolate factory on the mainland of New York and that it would be very educational and fun. At school they say everything is educational and fun, and a lot of times it isn't, so I wasn't really excited about the trip, but Mom signed the permission thing that said she wouldn't sue the school if I died or something, which meant I had to go.

I'd never been on a field trip before. We were going to go on one on the last day of school in first grade, but I kind of missed the end of the year.

On some Friday in April - I couldn't remember what day it was. Numbers were stupid anyway - all the second graders got on a bus and went to the chocolate factory. The bus ride was boring. I sat alone because I wanted to, and I didn't like anyone in my class. Also, they kept acting like they could catch my dyslexia if they got too close, and it didn't matter how much my teacher said dyslexia wasn't contagious like the flu. One girl who was sitting next to me asked if she could move because she didn't want to get bad at reading like me.

Then one of the girls threw up on the bus. It was gross, so I just looked out the window most of the time. There wasn't a bus janitor, so no one cleaned it up. None of the kids in my class wanted to touch it, because like I said, it was gross, and I think my teacher pretended not to notice it, but that was dumb because Ryan even went up and told her that Elizabeth threw up.

That was about when she started talking to the bus driver, and even though the bus driver looked annoyed - I kept looking at his face in the big mirror at the front - she had an excuse to not hear any of us. Why she thought it was a good idea to take us on a field trip, I don't know. Oh, right, because she's stupid.

The chocolate factory that we went to was called Cupid Chocolatiers. I'm not sure how to pronounce that. But for some reason, the name just made me uncomfortable... I don't really have a good reason why. It just sounded off, I guess.

We had a guide to show us stuff in the factory, and he was way too happy for me. I like happy people, but he looked like he was about to bounce off the wall! At least, that's what Mom always says.

The first thing he did was take us around a special tour route that had windows to show us the chocolate being made. It was really boring and I just started staring at the chocolate as it went past me. It looked really good. It was making me hungry. My stomach growled really loud and the girl next to me frowned at me and told me to pay attention. Also, I had to stand still for way too long. There was nothing to do. I couldn't even read the boring tour guide book we all got at the beginning of the tour.

At the end we went to a room with white walls splattered with pink and a pink floor, like someone spilled Pepto-Bismol on the wall, and we all got chocolate samples. They tasted okay, I guess. Kind of left a weird taste in my mouth, though. It tasted... well, not right. Like everything else in this place.

Then the guide asked us if we had any questions. Ryan asked if the owner of the chocolate factory was named Cupid.

"Um... well, actually, no," the tour guide said. "We got the name from the son of Venus, the Roman god of love!"

I was starting to get a headache. I didn't like this at all. It just felt really, really wrong.

"The actual owners of the factory are twins named Rina and Bobby, and I don't think you'll meet them today, because they're always very busy making sure things go like they're supposed to around here! Now are we ready to continue with the tour?"

"But I have a question!" a girl complained, and the teacher gave her a mad look.

"All right, my dear, what is your question?"

"Does the chocolate here have peanuts? 'Cause I'm allergic to peanuts. If I get close to them my face starts to get bigger and I start to choke."

The tour guide sputtered and awkwardly scratched the back of his head "Yes, as a matter of fact, the samples we handed out five minutes ago were heavy in tree-nuts, with some traces of peanuts... do you have any Benadryl with you?"

"There were peanuts?!" the girl shrieked. It was the same girl who asked to move away from me because she didn't want to get bad at reading. I didn't like her. She started breathing weird, like she was going to be sick, and even though she was on the other side of the room, I noticed her face was going all weird and blotchy.

"I have her EpiPen on the bus," my teacher said, almost running out of the room. A lot of other kids were freaking out, and the girl's friends were all crowded around her, trying to make her feel better with their friend-ness, I don't know.

It all only made my headache feel a lot worse, so I just went out the back door to where it was cooler and there weren't Pepto-Bismol walls. I felt like I was going to throw up, just like Elizabeth on the bus. I leaned against the wall, closed my eyes, and tried to take deep breaths.

I was surprised by someone suddenly yelling, "Who's this?"

I opened my eyes right away and saw a guy with furry legs. No, I'm not kidding, he had furry legs, and it was the weirdest thing ever.

"You're a satyr?" I blurted, not sure how that came to my mind.

"No," the furry leg guy said, frowning at me like I was stupid. I got that frown a lot, actually. "I'm a faun." Then he slapped himself on the forehead. "Nope, forget that, I'm neither. I'm a human. I'm normal, stupid kid. Where are you supposed to be?"

"You're not normal," I said, staring at his legs. "You have fur on your legs."

The faun-satyr yelped and he looked like he was starting to sweat. "How can you see through the Mist? You do smell like a demigod, now that I think about it, but you smell... funny. Like, not like a normal demigod."

"What's a demigod?" I asked, getting worried. I hoped he wasn't going to try and kidnap me. I had had enough of people trying to kidnap me. I needed to get out of here soon. I hated it. Everything felt so wrong. Not... natural.

"Listen," Mr. Furry-Legs said, "I think I'll have to take you to see Rina and Bobby. They'll know exactly what to do." He reached out to grab me, but I jumped away. I did _not _want to get kidnapped! He was faster than me, though, and he grabbed me and started dragging me down the hallway. I tried to bite his hand so he would drop me, but it didn't work.

That's when the wall exploded. Furry-Legs dropped me right away, and I fell down. I could barely see what was happening, There was water everywhere, and I could see a hole in the wall and a pipe showing through it. I guess the pipe exploded somehow and the water burst through the wall. Whatever it was, it happened right on time. For some reason, I felt like I couldn't move, but I wasn't panicking about being kidnapped anymore. Slowly the water stopped coming out of the pipe in the wall until it was more like a drip from a leaky faucet.

When I sat up, I realized that I wasn't alone with Mr. Furry-Legs the faun-satyr anymore. There were workers with the same furry legs crowding the hallways, but I was too dazed to care about them, and my class was watching from the door to the Pepto-Bismol room. My teacher and the tour guide guy were in the front, and my teacher had the worst glare I've ever seen.

"We will be leaving now," my teacher said to me. Her voice sounded calm, but I could tell she was really mad on the inside. Everyone in my class was staring at me. Ryan didn't even say something mean. I got up and followed everyone else back to the bus, and we went back to the school.

"Such disrespect," the teacher said in a mad voice once the factory people couldn't hear us. "I have never seen behavior of this sort from a student, and I am appalled." I didn't say anything, because I knew she wouldn't believe me if I told the truth. I don't know if I even believed myself.

The minute we got out of the parking lot, I felt relieved. I don't know what happened in there, but I was glad to be out.

* * *

Maybe it was a good thing that I got out, but my problems didn't stop. I thought they did for a while, until I was sitting in my room that night and Mom came in with her "we need to talk" look.

She sat down on my bed and gave me a serious look, then said, "Percy, I just got another call from your school."

I just said, "Oh."

She sighed. It was the I'm disappointed in you sigh. But what was I supposed to say? That a guy with goat legs tried to kidnap me? "You just got expelled. Do you know what that means?"

I shook my head, looking down at my feet. If it had anything to do with the field trip, it probably wasn't good.

"It means you aren't allowed to go back to that school ever again." I thought that was pretty good, because half the people there hate me, but Mom didn't look like she felt the same way. "Percy, I'm disappointed. Your teacher said you destroyed the chocolate factory's property and disrespected her. Are you going to deny that?"

"Yeah, I am," I said. I guess it's worth a try. "I was getting kidnapped, and the wall just exploded by itself. I can't make a wall explode! I can't make anything explode!" I wish I could make stuff explode. That would be pretty cool. Then I could use it every time I get kidnapped! Not like I hope it's a normal thing, though.

Mom just shook her head and looked sad. "Can you at least try to behave yourself some of the time?"

_Try _to behave myself? The only time I ever did something against the rules was when I ran away from school at Christmas! And maybe I shouldn't have left everyone at the chocolate factory, but I felt really sick. I couldn't stop the Furry legged guy from trying to kidnap me! I didn't want to talk to Mom anymore. What was the point if she was just going to think I was lying? So I just laid down on my bed and ignored Mom. I knew if I did it for long enough she'd leave.

A few minutes later, she did. I rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. Why did this stuff always have to happen to me?

* * *

About the same time Percy was laying in bed pondering his misfortune, Cupid Chocolatiers was just closing for the night. Bobby and Rina Markham, the twenty-three year old twins who owned the factory, were locking the doors, both thinking about what they had been told by Patrick, one of their faun workers. That he'd run into a demigod who was with a class field trip. A demigod with unnatural power for someone his age.

"I don't think he knows it or can control it," Patrick had explained. "He seemed just as surprised as me when the wall exploded."

This was especially disturbing for Bobby and Rina, who were demigod children of Venus who had once lived at Camp Jupiter, but a series of events had led to their running away and starting a new life out east, far away from their former Roman allies.

On the journey east, they had run into a large number of fauns, who they had enlisted for help in their factory in exchange for food and shelter. The fauns, known for being lazy bums, didn't adjust to this idea very well, but when their current home was overrun by Cyclopes, they had been forced to accept.

"Do you think Camp Jupiter found us?" Rina asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.

"No," Bobby said unconcernedly. "You heard Patrick, the kid knows nothing. What I'm worried about is that he said the kid was a demigod, but didn't smell like one. He smelled... funny, I guess."

"Do you think there are other kinds of demigods?"

"What do you mean?" Bobby asked. "Even if there are, it wouldn't concern us."

"Maybe we should tell Camp Jupiter," Rina suggested.

"No," Bobby said firmly. "If this is a problem, it's _their _problem. Not ours."

* * *

**Just to clear up any confusion, the reason Percy felt so uncomfortable about the chocolate factory is because he was Greek, and in a Roman facility. Also, the tour guide was a faun, but he was wearing pants and a hat, unlike Patrick, who was just like "No one's going to see me, forget pants!" I kind of want to write a full length story about Bobby and Rina now... **


	7. Lucky's Ice Cream

**I have a two important words I'd like to say: I'M SORRY! I didn't update yesterday like I was supposed to. I hate my computer's electronic guts. I already did the extra chapter on Wednesday, and I was still planning on doing the normal Friday chapter, but last night, right after I logged into my account, my computer decided to go all Professor Umbridge on me - "You know I really hate children!" - and refused to make the Internet work. For about ten minutes I just stared at the "No Internet Connection" sign thinking about how I was letting everyone down, and I felt really bad about it. :( Anyway, this is a really short chapter, and it's kind of thanks to Mandi2341 that I wrote it, because she reminded me that Percy and Sally weren't as close as they maybe should be. **

**REVIEW RECOGNITION (which I've been really bad about lately :P) Thanks to creamtherabbit77 and a Guest for reviewing chapter 5, The Minun for reviewing chapter 6, Percabeth-Fan-02 (Guest) for reviewing chapter 2, and Mandi2341, Maerad-of-Pellinor28, and Myseybee for reviewing both the last two chapters. It really blows me away that you guys actually like reading what I write and take the time to let me know! (Well, except for the Minun who just told me a story about pants. But he helps me on some of my Hunger Games stories so thanks for that!) **

* * *

It was pretty boring now that I couldn't go to school. Not like I wanted to go back, I really hate it there, and everyone hates me there too, so I guess it's all even and stuff. But something to do would be really nice.

I tried to read, because I thought maybe if I read a lot it would be easier, but all it did was give me a headache. I couldn't go watch TV, because Gabe was always in the main room with his friends playing poker, drinking beer, and watching ESPN. I tried to go watch TV downstairs only once. When Gabe started pounding me, asking for money, I got the hint and didn't come back.

On a Friday at the end of May, I was laying in bed and wondering if I could hibernate like a bear. Maybe I could hibernate all summer until I went to my new school. I couldn't fall asleep, though. I wonder how bears do it. I can't sleep very long, and trying to fall asleep means laying still, which for me wasn't going to work.

Then Mom came in and saw me laying on my bed. "Are you sick?" she asked.

"No, I'm not sick," I said, rolling over to look at her. "I feel fine."

"Do you want to come get some ice cream with me?"

I sat up right away when I heard that. "Don't you have to go to work?" I hoped she would say no. I hadn't gotten ice cream with Mom in... well, in a long time. More than a month, for sure. Before Mom married Gabe, we went and got ice cream and sat in the park and talked all the time. But now, every time we drove past the ice cream stand, we didn't have time. We had to go home, or we had to go to school, or Mom had to work.

"No, the store is closed for Memorial Day weekend," she told me. I forgot about that holiday. I never really knew why it was a holiday, though. It seems like we have a hundred holidays to celebrate the people who die in a war!

"Okay!" I hopped out of bed and put on my shoes. "Can we go right now?"

Mom smiled at me. I hadn't seen her really smile in a long time, I realized. I guess since I wasn't doing very good, I didn't notice Mom wasn't either. "Yeah, we can. Go get in the car, I'll be right there."

We drove to our usual place. It was a little stand, that had pictures of ice cream cones with faces on the sides and the front. It looked really dumb, and it was called Lucky's Ice Cream, which I know sounds kind of shifty, but the ice cream was good. We both got our usual. Mom's was mint chip, and mine was the cool one that was mostly blue, but had all the colors. Then we got the stickers with the smiling ice cream cones on them to show that we were there. I had a lot of them in a box under my bed.

After we had our ice cream, we walked around to a small park and sat at my favorite bench. It was my favorite because there were two lions made out of rocks on both sides of it, which was really awesome.

For a while, we ate our ice cream in silence, then Mom talked. "Percy, we haven't done this as much lately. I'm sorry, I missed it too."

"Yeah," I said, trying to eat my ice cream fast enough so it didn't melt everywhere. It was hot, so it was already starting to. "But we never had time."

"That's right, we didn't have time," Mom said, looking at her ice cream cone like it was really interesting. "I promise we'll have more time to do this in the future. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it until it was gone."

"It wasn't gone," I said, frowning. "Us getting ice cream can't be gone." I thought about the collection of stickers under my bed. "I'd remember it until I die." I meant it, too.

"So will I," Mom said, finishing her ice cream and crumpling up the wrapper that was around the cone. "There might be a time when we're never going to be able to do this again."

"I know," I said, because I did. I knew. Kind of. "When I grow up." That was right, wasn't it? When I grew up, I'd get a job and then I wouldn't have time and Mom wouldn't have time either. Why couldn't life have more time? "But that's in a long time."

"You're right, Percy," Mom agreed. "That is in a long time. Don't grow up too fast, though. I need my son around a while longer."

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm not going away soon," I promised. "I'm staying right here." I almost added, no matter about Gabe, but then I remembered that marrying Gabe meant a lot to her, and I shouldn't get in the way. So I wouldn't. Mom was my favorite person in the whole entire world. If I told her about the guy secret, it would just make her sad. Gabe would beat me up, too.

"And I'm very glad," Mom said. We threw our cone wrappers away and went back to the car. While we were driving back to the apartment I felt kind of sad, because being at the park with Mom was the best thing I've done in a really long time.

I put my new sticker in the box with all the rest. Maybe my life wasn't great, but it was good enough, and those stickers were my reminder.


	8. Sally and Percy's Thoughts on Life

**I am so, so sorry for leaving you hanging for an insane amount of time. I'm FOUR DAYS late! Wow, I'm so late with this, it's not even funny. Actually, being late is never funny. But my muse was a treacherous swine, and I was doing school shopping, and finally I forced myself to write, and thankfully, I came through and wrote some stuff! I'll still try to update this Friday like normal!**

**To clear up any confusion beforehand, the first part of this will be written in Sally's POV, just to change things up a bit, and for the second I'll switch back to Percy's. The line break is where that POV-switching action happens! Most of this is major filler though, haha, not a whole lot of anything, really.**

**Thanks to those who reviewed since I last updated: Mandi2341, creamtherabbit77, Marines-end of story, and Sunny (Guest). You guys make me happy when you fill my inbox with feedback! I'm sorry if I forgot anyone, because I was in a major hurry typing up this AN! I use too many exclamation points!**

* * *

Percy started third grade two months ago, and so far, nothing has happened out of the ordinary. However, I know better than to expect it for much longer.

When I dropped him off at school this morning, he waved goodbye and smiled, just like every other day, but behind that sweet nine-year-old smile was an unmistakable tinge of worry. Even he's beginning to realize there's something about him that isn't normal. No child should have to live like that. Many days I ask myself, why do I let mine?

The answer, if I'm honest with myself, is that I'm being selfish. I can't send him away, not yet. I tell myself 'next year', but the next year arrives and Percy is still by my side. I can't stand to see him away from me.

It's foolish and very weak of me. Percy would be much better protected from - and eventually prepared for - a life like the one he has been destined to live if he was at Camp Half-Blood. Certainly much better than he would be with me. I am supposed to be strong. It should be easy, almost second nature, to deliver my son safely into the hands of the camp.

It's anything but.

Every time I look at Percy, I see a bit of his father in him; strong-willed, independent, and daring. Not to mention his appearance. His blue-green eyes, the color of the sea, occasionally bring a pang of helpless longing, my silly desire to be with Poseidon again. However, aside from the similarities to his father, my Percy has something all his own, something about him that defines him much more than any resemblance to Poseidon or myself.

Percy means the world to me, I'm not going to deny it. I almost can't believe myself some of the things I've done for him. For his protection, what little amount of that I can provide.

Marrying Gabriel Ugliano, for instance. He is one of the rudest, laziest, most narrow-minded, most disgusting, most many-other-impolite-words man I have ever had the misfortune or meeting. I certainly don't love him, even though I have to pretend so for Percy's sake. I can only hope it works, that some of Gabe's stench is rubbed off onto Percy, making him less obvious to those who want to hurt him. It pains me more than I'll ever admit to keep up the facade.

Yet I do it all the same. I tell myself over and over it's not needed, I can just send him to camp, he'll be safe there. He'll be able to have a future there.

I am an odd mix of selfishness and selflessness, though more the former, I would think.

I should tell him everything. He needs to know.

Tomorrow, I decide. Tomorrow I'll tell him.

I know that when tomorrow comes, I will change my mind.

* * *

I kind of tripped over to my room after I got home from school, hardly able to walk. It was the pits. Worse than the pits.

At recess today a couple of mean kids got me while I was on the swing set. I guess they wanted the swing set for themselves, but how would I know? It's not like they told me or anything. They just came over with a plastic baseball bat and started smacking me with it across the legs whenever the swing brought me close to them.

I tried to ignore it, or take the top road, I think is something Mom tells me to do. The high road. Yeah, that's right. But finally my legs hurt too much, and I dragged my shoes in the sand to stop the swing. I got off and asked them why they hit me. That's what they told me. That they wanted the swings.

That was dumb. There were three open swings already. But I hurt too much to argue, and I was scared they'd hit me again. So I walked away and sat by the fence. I didn't even want to roll up my pant legs, I was sure there would be some really ugly bruises there.

Those kids were mean, but they weren't like Ryan. They were mean to everyone, not just me. They were always nice when the teachers who were in charge of recess were watching, though. It wasn't fair.

At least I didn't get expelled again. All year I've been trying really hard to obey the rules and be respectful so I wouldn't make Mom sad. I know she'd be sad if I got kicked out of this school. It took her a long time to find one for me. She was on the computer a lot, on all these websites that had school names and pictures of happy, smiling kids.

Mom also seems a lot more tired than she usually does. Even last summer, when we got ice cream after I got expelled, she didn't look so good, but she's even worse now. Sometimes, she comes into my room at night and looks at all Gabe's car magazines that smell like cigarettes around my room in messy piles. Then she gets this sad look and starts to kind of open her mouth like she's going to say something, but then she looks normal again and just tells me 'good night' or 'I love you' or something.

Mom is my favoritest person in the world. I've told her that before, a lot of times, and she would just smile and tell me that favoritest isn't a word. But she liked it, I know she did.

I wish she'd be happier. I wish things could go back like they were a long time ago, when I was - I don't know - six? Before she married Gabe. Why does she love him if he's what's making her so sad?

Maybe it's not him. Maybe there's something I don't even know about. If there is, though, I want to know what it is and I want to get rid of it.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll ask her what's wrong so I can make it go away.

I know that when tomorrow comes, I will change my mind.


	9. UglyOrange Hats Stolen, and Friends Made

**Let's face it, I shouldn't give myself update deadlines. I'm ****_really _****bad at making them happen. So from now on, I'll just update whenever I happen to finish a chapter, which is probably what I would have done anyway, since I start school next week. **

**I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro. I love this keyboard so much compared to the one I've been using all summer. That one had weird keys that I had to press really hard on for it to register. My fingers were all cramped up after typing on that thing XD**

**This is a short Author's Note for me, isn't it? I ran out of stuff to say already? Okay, I'll say one more thing. I hate my new locker. The lock is hard to turn and the bottom of it is all bent and weird. Someone in the grade above me told me "Oh, I think you got one of the guys' lockers who hated their locker last year!" ...Great, that was exactly what I needed to hear, wasn't it?**

**Hats off to MidnightEevee, Myseybee, and PJO rulz for reviewing the last chapter! If no one has told you yet today that you are awesome, then I'm telling you now: You are awesome!**

* * *

The mean kids were picking on me again.

They stole my hat, and were throwing it around at each other. I didn't even really like the hat. I would've been fine with them keeping it; it was itchy and orange, but it was December. It was cold and I was freezing. I needed the stupid hat. It was kind of like that game we played in gym class, where two people were throwing a ball at each other and there was another person in the middle trying to get it back, but in gym it was fun. Now it wasn't.

One of them tricked me into thinking I almost had it, but then he stepped to the side right before I tried to shove him and I fell over in the snow. We were close to the edge of the playground too, where no one ever walks, so the snow was deep because there were no footprints.

When I got up, my face was numb and I heard voices arguing. I recognized a lot of them as the mean kids who stole my hat. I don't even remember their names for sure, because why bother? They were mean! And there was another one that I didn't know. He had dark hair and brown eyes, and when I thought about it, I realized I had seen him before. I think he was in my class.

I blinked to make the snowflakes get out of my eyes, and I saw the guy who just came making a frowny face at the mean kids.

"Give it back to him, guys!" he said.

"We were just playing a game," one of the mean kids said with a happy voice, like he was pretending he didn't do anything wrong.

"I don't think he thought it was funny," the kid crossed his arms. "Give it back or I'll tell."

"Fine," the mean kid said, throwing something wet and orange at me. My hat, which was now all soggy from being in the snow. If there was one thing the mean kids were scared of, it was getting in trouble. One time I tried to say I'd tell on them, but they just said they would beat me up more if I did.

The mean kids left, and they didn't look happy that their game got ruined, but I was relieved.

The guy who made them give my hat back came over to me and helped me get up from the snow. I had kind of forgotten I was still laying in the snow bank, and the knees of my pants were soaked, making my legs really cold. I pulled my hat back on, not caring that it was a little wet. I was shivering all over.

"Forget about them, they're annoying losers," the guy who helped me said.

"But they're annoying losers who stole my hat," I said. "I needed to get it back."

"That's true," the guy said, shrugging. "So now we need to make them feel bad about it. How can we get them back for being mean to you? That's how I got them to stop picking on me. I just put a bunch of spiders in their backpacks." He smiled. "It was so fun."

"I don't want to get in trouble," I said quickly. If I got caught playing a prank on the mean kids I'd be in trouble, and if the teacher told Mom, she'd be sad.

"We won't get in trouble," he said confidently. "If they can get away with doing all this bad stuff, we can do one prank."

"Well… okay," I finally decided. I did like the idea of getting back at the mean kids for picking on me all the time.

Then the bell rang for recess to be over, and the guy who helped me said, "Okay! Cool! We'll talk about it later! Or maybe you could come to my house sometime?" Then he smacked his forehead. "I forgot to tell you my name! It's Jordan Harton."

"I'm Percy Jackson," I said.

"Well, hey, nice to meet you, Percy!" He grabbed my hand and shook it. Then he ran down the hill back into the school.

* * *

After the whole class got our coats and boots off, we all lined up to go to choir class. I used to kind of like choir class. It was easy and if you sat in the back you could get away with sleeping for a little while. That was good on the days where it took me forever to fall asleep, because the night before Gabe and his friends stayed up watching sports until two in the morning.

Then, before our fall program, the teacher, who always had her hair in a tight bun and wore too much makeup, made me try out for a solo in one of the songs, and afterwards announced to the class that I sang like a wounded whale.

I didn't like choir class so much anymore.

I sat in the back, because that was where the heating vent was, and I wanted to sit right in front of it because my pants were still wet.

Then someone sat down next to me. I turned around and looked at them right away, because I didn't usually sit with people. It was the guy from recess, Jordan Harton. I guess he really meant it when he said we should get the mean kids back. That made me kind of nervous, but kind of happy too.

"Hello, Percy Jackson," he said. "That is your name, right?"

"Yeah." I didn't know what else to say.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked, looking at me funny.

"Um… I'm sorry?" I said. No one had ever told me I didn't talk enough before.

Jordan laughed. "No, it's fine, I was just, um what's the word, observing."

"Boys in the back, if you will please save your conversation for later," the choir teacher said. Jordan stopped talking and we both looked up to the front.

* * *

When school was over, I was waiting on the front steps of the school to get picked up. I wasn't wearing my hat, even though I wanted to because it was really cloudy and starting to snow. I just didn't want to get it stolen again. Jordan wasn't there to help me this time, he had to ride the bus to get home. But he had given me a piece of paper that said his address, and told me I should come over to his house on Saturday - tomorrow.

"Hey, there you are! We've been looking for you!" a voice called. I didn't think it was meant for me, so I ignored it, but I looked up when I heard footsteps right in front of me. I guess it was for me. It was the mean kids.

"Still think you're so cool without your friend to help you?" one of them said.

"I think we should pick up where we left off," a second added.

I stood up fast. maybe I could fight them. There were three of them, but I was fast. Maybe I could do it. Maybe I didn't need Jordan to help me prank them to get them to stop being mean to me. I could show them!

A car pulled up, and I was so distracted I probably wouldn't have noticed, but it splashed slush all over my shoes and went through them. Now my socks were wet along with my pants. Great. But in the car was the most welcome face I've ever seen. Mom.

"Gotta go, guys, we'll have fun some other time!" I said, grabbing my backpack and getting into the car as fast as I could.

"Oh, Percy, did I get snow all over your shoes when I pulled up? I'm sorry," Mom said when she saw all the slushy junk I was tracking in to the back seat.

"That's okay," I said. I was too relieved to feel bad about getting wet. Best timing ever, Mom.

Mom asked her usual question - "How was school today?"

I was about to say my usual answer - "It was fine" - when I remembered the piece of paper I had in my pocket. "I met a guy today. He wants me to come to his house tomorrow."

"Really?" Mom asked. She looked surprised. I guess I should be kind of embarrassed that she was surprised I had a friend. "Where does he live?"  
I took out the paper and tried to read what he wrote, but dyslexia is stupid. So I just handed it to Mom instead.

"I can't read it right now, Percy, I'm driving," Mom said, but while we were at a stop light she grabbed it and put it in her bag. "We'll see about tomorrow."

At least she didn't say no… right?

* * *

Mom ended up letting me go to Jordan's house, so at noon on Saturday I was right at his front door step. I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer, like Mom told me to do. It was manners, she said. Other manners I had to do while I was at Jordan's house were not eat too much, not break things, and be polite.

It was Jordan who answered the door. "Hey!" he said. "My mom wants to meet you! Get in here!"

I did, and I took off my shoes right at the door - another one of Mom's manners.

Jordan's mom was in the kitchen, and he yelled over to her, "Mom! My friend is here!"

His friend? He meant me? Even though I didn't mean to, I started smiling for some weird reason. I guess no one at my old schools would have called me their friend. My only friend was really Mom.

"I could hear the doorbell, Jordan! Bring him in here, I want to see him."

We walked into the kitchen, and something smelled really good in there. I had to remind myself that this wasn't my kitchen at home, and I couldn't just take stuff, because that was bad manners.

"Hello, your name is Percy, isn't it?" Jordan's mom asked. She looked all fancy, nothing like my mom. But she was smiling, so I guess she was nice.

"Yeah. I'm Percy Jackson," I said.

"Nice to meet you. Now Jordan, go bring him to your room or something. Have fun and don't bug your brother!"

"What are we going to do now?" I asked Jordan when we left the kitchen.

"Bug my brother," Jordan said.  
"But your mom said-"

"I know what my mom said," he told me. Then he smiled. "I was there, y'know. But my brother deserves some bugging."

After we were done bugging his brother, who was fifteen and Jordan was right, he did deserve some bugging, we went to his room and planned our prank for the mean kids. I was pretty happy with it in the end. We even ate cookies! They weren't as good as Mom's, duh, but cookies are cookies, aren't they?

I forgot what time it was when Mom came and picked me up, but it was almost dark and when we got home, the apartment was empty and dark.

"Where's Sm- um, Gabe?" I asked.

"Probably at the bar," Mom said. She was using the voice that she used when I did something she didn't like, so I guess she didn't like Gabe going to the bar. "Did you have fun with your friend today?"  
"Yeah!" I said. She called me his friend, too! Did I actually have a friend? It's kind of sad that I'm this excited about it. Everyone else had friends in kindergarten.

"Good, he seems like a nice boy," Mom said, nodding. Then she hugged me and told me to go to bed.

I could hardly fall asleep, I was that happy. One thought kept running through my head: I have a friend!

* * *

**I hope the page breaks aren't in the wrong places. I went through this in a hurry trying to put them in the right place so I could get this updated faster! A quick note about Percy's choir teacher who made a brief appearance in this chapter: In Battle of the Labyrinth on page 180, Percy says that the Sphinx reminds him of his third-grade choir teacher!**

**Also to people who will be like "Grover was Percy's first friend blah blah blah!" Jordan won't be around long, so don't worry. :D**


	10. He Had One Eye! I'm Serious!

**Hello lovely readers! Guess what? I actually proofread this chapter! Impressive, right? XD I'm sorry for keeping you all hanging for almost two weeks! That was kind of mean, I'll admit, but I had company and then I started school and then I caught a cold (I've been blowing my nose every five minutes today. Grrr) and in general... life caught up to me! But I promise you won't have to wait that long next time around. So, who's sick of school already? Show of hands? I'm not sick of school, exactly, but I ****_am_**** sick of the fact that I have almost all my classes with a group of girls who are always laughing about something or other, and I'll give them a weird look, and they stop, but start giggling again two seconds later. ****_It has been driving me up the wall_****. In other news, I published a new story featuring our favorite Leo, so go to my profile if you want to check that out! **

**I'm really sorry that I never got around to responding to your reviews from last chapter in a PM, but I'll still thank you here! So thanks to Guest, Myseybee, another Guest, Mandi2341, and MidnightEevee for your wonderful feedback! **

* * *

When I got to school on Monday, I was really tired, because last night I couldn't stay still in my bed long enough to fall asleep. I kept getting up and organizing a random pile of Smelly Gabe's car magazines, or getting a drink of water, or just pacing around in my room. Falling asleep is weird to me. You're just laying there waiting, and the next thing you know, it's morning?

Yeah. Weird.

For once, Jordan was actually there before me, and he had a huge smile and held up a paper bag. "See, I told you I'd remember it!" he said really loud, and I had to tell him to be quiet so no one would know about it. "Okay… see, I told you I'd remember it!" he said again, but whispering this time.

I took the bag from him and shoved it in my desk before the teacher saw it.

"Be careful with it!" Jordan said, still in his whisper voice. "Don't mess it up or it'll ruin the joke!"

"Don't worry," I told him. "I'm not gonna mess it up!"

"Percy and Jordan," the teacher said in the loud voice she has when she thinks we're too stupid to know how to follow the rules, "I think you should get to your seats and practice writing the cursive M."

We both went to our desks and started writing. I was bad at cursive, and it didn't help that I could hardly read it because of my dyslexia. Why would I learn how to write cursive if I'd never be able to read what I wrote?

It felt like the clock was dead, because it never changed, ever! I would listen to the teacher talk for a long time, but when I looked back at the clock, it was exactly the same as it was before. We had to do reading lessons, and a girl named Amanda picked me to read, and I had to stand up to do it, and it took me forever to sound the things out because the letters were even more floaty than usual.

But that was okay, because all morning I felt like a spy! Jordan would sometimes look at me and give me the "I have a secret" smile. I would give him the smile back and then I would go back to my work. A few minutes later I would look at him again. It was fun!

It took a bazillion years, but finally the bell rang for lunch. I grabbed the paper bag out of my desk and stuffed it in my sweatshirt pocket, then got my lunch box and headed to the lunchroom. Jordan had to stay back because he was last in line to get hand sanitizer, but then he ran to catch up with me.

"Hey, are you ready?" he asked, grabbing the bag and looking inside it.

"Don't give it away!" I told him. I took the bag back and rolled the top up.

"You know what to do, right?" he asked for the gazillionth time.

"Yeah, we said it a gazillion times when I was at your house," I reminded him.

"I know! Did you forget?"

I hit him. "Of course I didn't!"

He hit me back.

"Hey!" I complained.

"You hit me!"

"Because you thought I forgot!"

"I was just making sure!"

Jordan sighed and gave me a salute. "Good luck, friend!" he exclaimed and ran off to the cafeteria lunch line.

Since I had a sack lunch, I went and sat down by myself and secretly put what was in the paper bag into my lunch box. Then I ate a turkey sandwich. It was kind of disgusting and soggy, because it was right next to the ice pack that Mom put in to keep stuff cold. After that I ate my Doritos and wiped off the gross cheese dust on my pants.

Right after I got done wiping off the cheese dust, the mean kids came up to me. I could tell it was them without even looking, because one of them breathes really loud and it's annoying when we do silent reading, because it makes it even harder to focus.

"Hey, guys," I said, pretending to be calm like Jordan said to be.

"Do you have any food for us?" one of them asked.

"No," I said, and since Jordan told me I should make it obvious I was lying, I picked up my lunch box and moved it to the other side of me.

"You're lying," another one said, and reached out to grab it. I hugged it close to myself and tried to protect it, but they still managed to take it from me. They unzipped the top and looked in,

"Hey! Oreos! I love these things!" The one with the annoying breathing said, taking out a plastic bag full of Oreos.

"How many are there?" the one who said I lied asked. "Because I should get the most. I was the one who stole it from him."

"Give it to me!" the third one said, taking the bag and counting the cookies. "There are… um… six! That's enough for everyone to have…"

"To have two, stupid," the one with the annoying breathing interrupted. He opened the bag and took out two. The others did the same thing, and they all stuffed the cookies into their mouths, only to spit them out two seconds later.

"These aren't Oreos!" one of them yelled. They were half right. What Jordan and me did on Saturday was take six Oreo cookies, scrape out the frosting, and replace it with white toothpaste. If you made it look smooth enough, there was no way to tell the difference!

They all threw the rest of the cookies across the room, as far away from them as they could get. A teacher noticed and came over to yell at them.

They ended up going to the principal's office for inappropriate lunchroom behavior.

* * *

At recess, I told Jordan all about what happened, and by the end he was laughing so hard his face turned red.

"That's great! That's just perfect! And then they got in trouble for throwing food?"  
I had to smile too. "Yeah, they did."

"That's the best prank I've ever done," he said in between huge gulps of breath. "If… if you ever write a book about your life, make sure you say that I was the one who thought that up!"

"I hate writing," I said. "I'm not going to write a book about my life."

"Fine, then if you get someone else to write a book about your life, then make sure my prank is in it."

"No one is going to write a book about my life!" I said. That was crazy. "Why would they write a book about my life? I'm not famous. I didn't save the world or anything."

"Ya never know, Percy, maybe you will some day."

"What, be famous or save the world?"

He shrugged. "Maybe both!"

I had to laugh. "I'm not that cool."

"Jordan?" a voice interrupted. It was the teacher on recess duty. "Your mom is waiting at the front office. She's ready to take you to your dentist appointment."

Jordan smacked himself on the forehead. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you I had a dentist appointment today. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," I told him, and he ran inside.

Since Jordan was kind of my only friend, and he was gone, I started to pace around the edge of the playground, walking right up next to the fence. It was freezing, and my cheeks were almost numb from the cold, but I was smiling so hard I thought my face might break. The prank worked! Jordan was a genius. Not for the first time, I thought about how happy I was that I was his friend.

For a while I paced quietly, just thinking, but then I noticed someone on the other side of the fence. For some reason, I felt like they were watching me. Just to be sure, I slowly walked around to the opposite fence and looked over at the parking lot, where a guy in a black trench coat was leaning against a car. I couldn't see his eyes, because his hat covered them, but I still felt like he was looking at me.

I had to pretend that nothing was wrong. Maybe he was just someone's dad who liked to wear black clothes and big hats. I walked around the playground another time, and when I got back to the parking lot side, he was closer. Standing a few feet away from the fence, and this time I was sure he was looking at me. His head turned to the left when I passed him on the left.

_No_! I wanted to scream at him. _Not now_! I was actually happy about being at school for once, I even had a friend, why was this weird, scary stuff happening to me now?

I went over to a slide and slid down it a couple times, always watching the guy, who had now gone through the gate and was in the playground. A couple kids looked at him weird, but he ignored them, walking in the direction of the slide I was on. I panicked. I started running as fast as I could, but the guy had really long legs, and he was catching up to me easy. Then I tripped over my shoelace and fell face first on the ground.

When I rolled over, the creepy guy was standing right over me, and I finally saw his eyes.

My heart had been about to beat right out of my chest before, but when I saw his eyes, it froze. I could feel my chest kind of squeezing in a little. Because this guy didn't have two eyes like a normal person.

No… he had only one.

One giant, brown, bloodshot eye that felt like it was drilling into my head.

I should have gotten up and ran, but I couldn't move. I was stuck in one place, looking into that one terrible eye.

Everything felt real again when I heard angry voices. The teachers. They were standing next to the creepy one-eyed man and telling him something. I couldn't understand it at first, because my head was all fuzzy, but then I could make it out. They were telling him to go away. They said they were going to call the police if he didn't.

I had never been so thankful for a teacher in my whole life.

The guy did go away soon, and I thought I heard him growling. That was weird, but having one eye was even weirder. It was weirder than weird.

"Are you all right?" one of the teachers asked.

"Did he touch you?" the other one added.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, he didn't do anything to me."

"Did you know him?"

"No."

"He won't be coming back anytime soon, Percy. You're safe."

"Okay. But…" I stopped myself from saying what I was about to say. I really didn't want to talk about it.

"But what?" the teacher asked in what I call the hospital voice. Gentle and quiet, like you're talking to someone who's almost dead.

"He had only one eye," I said quietly.

"Are you sure?" the teacher asked, frowning.

I nodded. "I'm sure. It was huge and brown. It was the scariest thing ever."

"Percy, I think you must have been imagining that part. I understand. It's natural for your mind to invent scary things when you're already scared. But you're fine now." The teacher patted me on the shoulder and walked away, blowing the whistle to tell us recess was over.

She didn't believe me? But didn't she see it for herself? I didn't care if she didn't believe me. I just wanted to forget about it. I knew what I saw, though, and I saw that he had only one eye. Something weird was going on.

The rest of the day, I couldn't think at all. I was all jittery from what happened at recess, and I had even less focus than I usually did. I got in trouble for not following along in class three times, but I was too busy thinking about other things to care much.

That stupid one-eyed man. I couldn't get him out of my head. It had scared me, a lot. Why do you always forget the things you need to remember, but you always remember the things you want to forget?

* * *

The end of school was the best part of the day. When Mom's car pulled up, I didn't even look around. I just wanted to get away from school, away from the place where I saw the man.

"Percy, you seem jumpy today," Mom noticed. Mom notices everything.

I had to tell her. She was Mom. She would believe me that he had one eye. Maybe she could help me be not as scared, too. I blurted it all out with one breath. "I was on the playground today and I was walking around and then a guy with a black coat came and he followed me and I tried to ignore him but then I tripped and he caught up and I saw that he had only one eye! Mom, he had one eye, I'm serious! It was so scary I actually froze and I think I was going to die, but then the teachers came and they told him to go away and he did, but I'm still scared, Mom what should I do?"

Mom's face turned all pale and she gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. "Percy, you are not going back to that school. It's not safe." She said it so serious, but I was so happy to hear those words I almost started jumping up and down.

"So you believe me? That he had one eye? 'Cause no one else did."

"Yes, I believe you," she said softly.

I knew she would. She's the greatest person ever. I was still shaking a little, but I leaned back in my chair and sighed, because I was so relieved.

It wasn't until that night, when I was laying in bed, that I remembered. It hit me like a lightning bolt hits a tree.

_What about Jordan?_

* * *

**So, did anyone see the Toothpaste Oreos coming? XD I am aware that I used improper grammar several times in this chapter, and I did that on purpose, because let's face it, no nine-year-old is going to have good grammar. The next chapter will mainly be focused around Jordan, and I think I'll have it done by Friday or Saturday! Don't hold me to it, though, that's just my guess. Thanks for reading! Don't die! **


	11. Percy, Jordan, and a Guy Named Will

**This chapter is LOOOOOOOOOOOONG. Actually, it really isn't, but it's longer than usual for this story, so I guess... a nice surprise for you? FUN FACT: I spelled 'receive' wrong every time I wrote it in this chapter, and I didn't even realize it until I ran it through the spell check... So! I was in band this morning, and there are a bunch of new kids in band who know NOTHING about anything. Today our director had to stop to teach one of the percussionists how to play the tambourine. SERIOUSLY, NEW KIDS?**

**I made a cover for this story! *points up excitedly* Look at it! Look at it! Isn't it pretty? It got kind of cut off on the sides, but that's okay. **

***cries* Did you guys, like, drop off the face of the earth or something? There was ****one**** review last chapter. SO A HUGE THANK YOU TO SUNNY FOR BEING THE ONLY REVIEWER! I would give you cookies, but since I'm kind of a nerd you get pie instead. (Ahh... get it... pi? Hahahahahaha I crack myself up XD)**

* * *

Jordan Harton walked into school on Tuesday morning, whistling a song he'd heard on the radio as he did so. He'd recently figured out how to whistle, and he was rather proud of his new achievement. Josh, one of the guys who had been mean to his new friend Percy, gave him a nasty glare, to which Jordan responded with a bright smile. Jordan knew Josh was just mad because he'd been outsmarted.

Speaking of Percy… where was that guy? Jordan hung up his backpack and sat down at his desk, practicing the cursive N, which he found incredibly easy, telling himself that Percy would show up later. Maybe he slept in.

But the morning passed quickly, and by lunch time Percy still hadn't shown himself. Okay, Jordan reasoned, so he was sick. That can't be helped. That day he ate lunch with some of his other friends, and for some reason he felt guilty about it. That was dumb, though. He wasn't betraying Percy by not eating lunch with him. If anything, Percy was betraying him, right? By not being there and all? Yeah, when Percy got back, Jordan would give him a hard time about it, but then everything would be cool by lunch. That was how their friendship worked.

So why did he still feel like something was wrong?

* * *

Percy didn't come to school the next day, either. Jordan made a mental note to call Percy later, and find out why his friend was missing so much school, but then he realized he didn't have Percy's phone number - Percy only had his. So unless Percy decided to call him, Jordan would have to stay in the dark.

* * *

When it had been a week, and Percy Jackson hadn't been to school once, Jordan started to worry. He'd never admit it, but he was a little hurt, too. He had thought that Percy would have gotten a hold of him by now. Their friendship was real, wasn't it? He didn't think Percy seemed like the type to take advantage or someone like that.

So he asked the teacher before school. What had happened to Percy?

She had looked at him strangely and said, "Jordan, there is no student in this class named Percy Jackson. In fact, as far as I'm aware, there's no one named Percy Jackson in this entire school."

It was like a scary movie that he wasn't supposed to watch but he did anyway when he snuck into his brother's room and searched through his DVDs. One of the scary movies where the main character knows someone really well, and then they disappear and later they find out they were friends with the spirit of a dead person or something.

For a while he went around like he was in a permanent daze. He'd turn around to say something to Percy, only to remember that he wasn't there. It was frustrating, like the answers were right there in front of him, but he was too stupid to see them for what they were.

Slowly, gradually, he realized that Percy was not coming back. Percy was gone. Why that was; Jordan didn't know. But he was gone. So Jordan made other friends, played with other kids, and did his best to shove Percy to the back of his mind.

* * *

By the time Jordan hit eighth grade, he had almost managed to forget the guy he'd been friends with for a week before he disappeared. Jordan Harton was athletic, popular, and sort of smart, as a plus. Also, he'd finally grown into his looks, and he noticed that Danielle Ericson had been actually paying attention to him for once.

Then the kid with horns came to his school.

Yeah. Horns.

His name was Will Evergreen, and he was a short, kind of chubby kid who was always limping around everywhere. He usually sat in the back of the room in class, never really raising his hand to answer questions, and he always wore a faded blue baseball cap over long curly hair. He was a weird one, to be sure. Jordan never paid attention to him, until the day he had to work with him on a science project.

"So, um… we're supposed to make this plant grow," Jordan said awkwardly, once they had received their Styrofoam cups filled with dirt.

"Yeah," Will said quietly, like he wasn't really paying attention to what Jordan was saying.

"Hey!" Jordan snapped his fingers in front of Will's face. "Keep your head in the game, bro! I have to get an A on this," he admitted, "or else I have to quit football because my of my GPA dropping too low." He didn't know why he just volunteered that information. He was honestly pretty ashamed of it. But it was the truth, and this project was basically life-or-death for him.

Will nodded and started taking notes on how much sunlight the plant was getting, how much they watered it; his baseball cap covering his eyes.

Jordan just shook his head in slight confusion. Yeah, Will was a weird one.

* * *

Jordan and Will ended up getting a perfect score on the project. They also had the healthiest plant of the lot, which was nothing short of a miracle, in Jordan's opinion. He was sure he'd blown it when he'd been talking to Danielle Ericson and accidentally moved his elbow so it smashed the plant's stalk in two, but to his surprise, the next morning he'd found it just like it had never been crushed.

Will was also a flawless record keeper. A few times, Jordan had asked if he wanted to take a break from recording for a while, but each time Will had insisted on keeping his task. So in all honesty, it was thanks to Will that he had that A.

"Thanks, man," Jordan had said to Will when they had received their grades. "I really owe you."

So that was how Jordan found himself in a tough situation one Friday afternoon at the beginning of November. He was hanging out with a few of the other guys on the football team before practice. They were at the vending machines getting Dr Peppers, when one of them, a guy named Dylan said in an undertone, "Hey, guys. There's that Underwood kid. He's always skulking around the gym after school. Wanna go talk to him?"

Jordan had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't really describe. He was starting to wish he hadn't pigged out on Cool Ranch Doritos beforehand, but he still followed the other guys over to where Will was sitting on top of the folded-up bleachers, scribbling something into his History notebook. He anxiously jerked up and slammed the notebook shut when Dylan, Jordan, and the three other guys came up right in front of him.

"H-hey guys," Will said with a slight stutter. Jordan had noticed that in Will; he was normally quiet and cool, but when he was agitated he'd start to stutter a little, and he'd occasionally twitch, too.

"H-hey guys," Dylan mimicked in falsetto, making Will blush and Jordan shift uncomfortably on his feet. He was starting to clue in to where this might be going.

"What do y-you want?" Will asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and trying to stay cool.

"I dunno," Dylan replied with a casual shrug, then his eyes lit up with fake excitement. "Oh, I know! I've left something in the bathroom, could you help me go get it?"

"Why can't you get it yourself?" Evan, one of the football guys, asked, frowning. Evan had the mind of a gorilla. He kind of had the build of one, too.

"I want Will to help me!" Dylan said. Jordan wanted to roll his eyes. Even he knew what Dylan was going to do, and he wasn't one of the guys who was always involved in that kind of stuff! He silently willed Will - pun absolutely intended - to run, just run. Run far away.

"I think I'll pass," Will mumbled, hopping off the bleachers and starting to back away.

Dylan grabbed Will's arm and twisted it at an angle that looked painful. Jordan was squinting a little, fighting the urge to look away. Dylan said through gritted teeth, "C'mon."

Will submitted this time and followed Dylan to the bathroom. The football guys came too; Jordan didn't want to be there, but it was as if he was in a trance, with no other choice but to go along with them.

Once in the bathroom, Dylan knocked off Will's blue baseball cap and grabbed a fistful of curly, unkempt hair. He roughly shoved Will's head downward, right into the bowl. And he flushed.

Jordan wanted to be sick. He knew this wasn't a very cool thing to do, especially when this guy saved him from getting kicked off the football team, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything. After all, he was only a fourteen-year-old guy. What could he do? Dylan, Evan and the others were two years older and considerably stronger. This wasn't third grade anymore, where he could just pull a nasty prank on them to get them to quit bugging people. The toilet flushed again. The other idiots' laughing seemed to echo in the small space.

Another flush-

"Guys! Come on," Jordan found himself saying. When the others looked at him weirdly, he said, "I mean, look at him. He's obviously learned his lesson." He motioned at Will, who still hadn't taken his head out of the bowl.

"You look awfully pale," Dylan remarked, slapping Jordan on the back. "Don't worry, we'll toughen you up. We better get to practice, coach'll be mad if we're late."

"I'll stay back, actually," Jordan said, adding hastily, "I need to empty my tank real quick."

"You better make it real quick," Dylan said, shaking his head. The guys left the bathroom, leaving just Jordan and Will. Jordan shot a glance at Will, who still had his head in the toilet.

"Dude, they're gone, you can take your head out of there," Jordan said quietly.

"Can I?" Will asked in his usual soft voice, but this time there was an undertone of sarcasm. It stung just a bit.

"Yeah. Besides, I didn't want them to do that to you anyway."

"Sure did a great job of showing it," Will replied. Jordan winced. That hit a little too close to home. He stomped over to Will and grabbed his shoulder, yanking him up. What he saw made his heart miss a couple beats. Will's normally bushy and unruly curls were now flattened down around his head, revealing a pair of small horns. _Horns._ They looked like goat horns. Goat horns, on a human boy. But was he really human?

Jordan stumbled back a few steps, unable to take his eyes off the horns. He could only sputter out a few unintelligible sounds before turning around and running away, leaving Will the horned boy standing in the bathroom, sopping wet.

* * *

The next day Will wasn't at school, and Jordan had a horrible case of Deja Vu, only this time instead of feeling worry, he only felt guilt. A tight knot of guilt eating away at his stomach.

Asking around, he found out that no one knew where Will went. In fact, no one had even heard of a quiet boy named Will Evergreen.

Jordan had a horrible feeling that whatever had happened to Will was the same thing that had happened to Percy five years ago.

* * *

One summer, when Jordan was fifteen years old, he had been laying on the couch watching TV. He'd switched the channels when the commercials came on, and happened to come across a news channel. The anchor had been blabbing on and on about a freak storm that was making its way across the country, and when they cut away to the live footage, Jordan had to do a double take. He could have sworn that in the middle of the storm was a huge person - a giant, you might say. He had blinked a few times, and every time it had looked just as clear as it did before.

Jordan managed to shrug that one off without too much thought, although from then on whenever someone told him there was going to be a storm, he had to wonder if there were any giants involved.

* * *

Even the most traumatic experiences can be dulled by time, which was the case with Jordan Harton and the Goat Boy. Jordan was in his sophomore year of college, and he was going for a degree in mechanics. He'd found out that he had a knack for that kind of thing when he started helping out in his dad's mechanic shop when he was sixteen.

He'd dated Danielle Ericson for a while at the end of junior year and most of senior year, but once they'd both graduated they agreed to go their separate ways, and surprisingly, that didn't bug Jordan too much. Yeah, she was pretty, and they were good friends, but he just couldn't see them going anywhere in the future. He didn't have any girlfriends after that, deciding he should survive school before worrying about that kind of thing.

Jordan also worked part-time in an Arby's. It was kind of a bummer job, yeah, but it was good enough. For now.

It was November. He had turned twenty a couple days ago, and was completely exhausted between school and work, so when he was working the counter at Arby's, of course he thought he was imagining things when he saw a guy with horns walk through the door.

The last time he'd seen a guy with horns was in eighth grade, and it hadn't exactly been a great situation. So, the logical side of his brain told him, he was tired, and his brain was trying to pull a fast one on him.

The horned guy looked to be a little older than he was, and he wasn't alone. There were two other people with him. One was a pretty girl with blonde hair and startling grey eyes that Jordan found himself unable to look into, and the other was a tall guy with dark windswept hair and green eyes that had an air of humor and light-heartedness about them.

When the strange trio came up to the counter, Jordan asked them what they wanted to order, although he felt a little nervous about speaking to them for reasons that were way beyond him. Maybe it was the fact that he was hallucinating goat horns on a perfectly ordinary person's head. Eye contact was important, though, a fact that he'd been taught many times. It made you seem more professional or something.

They each asked for a regular roast beef and cheddar sandwich, and after taking their orders, Jordan blurted out, "Um, your name isn't Will, by any chance, is it?" He could have smacked himself into next Wednesday after saying that.

"No, my name isn't Will," the dark-haired guy said, looking confused.

"Mine isn't, either," the horned guy said.

"Do you really think I look like a Will?" the girl asked, rolling her eyes.

"I was talking to him, actually," Jordan said, leaning casually on the edge of the counter and pointing to the horned guy. "He just looked like a guy I used to know in junior high…" Jordan involuntarily took a short gasp of breath. If he was going to go for it, he might as well lay all his cards out on the table now. ". . .You know, with the horns and all."

You know the expression "It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop"? Well, that was how it felt at the moment.

"Have you ever heard of Camp Half-Blood?" the dark-haired guy asked.

"Percy!" the girl said, hitting him lightly on the arm, then turning to Jordan. "What he means to say is we'd like to talk to you later. When do you get off?"

Jordan quickly glanced at the clock. "Um, 4:30. So, in a couple hours."

"We'll be at the Starbucks across the street," the girl said decisively. Then she practically dragged the two guys out of the restaurant. Jordan didn't realize until later that they'd never gotten their sandwiches and curly fries.

For obvious reasons, Jordan couldn't concentrate for the rest of his shift. He was almost always glancing at the clock, and he'd screwed up a few orders, which was extremely cringe-worthy.

Jordan was sure they wouldn't be at the Starbucks, but he decided to stop by anyway, just out of curiosity. And sure enough, there they were, sitting in the corner booth and playing paper football with a folded-up napkin. Jordan cautiously approached them, and was greeted with a smile from the dark-haired guy.

"Hey, have a seat. There are a few things we're going to talk about, but first, what's your name?"

"Percy!" the girl said. She looked embarrassed. "Can you have just a_ little_ tact?"

"Sorry," the guy - Percy - apologized.

"It's cool," Jordan said. "You know, I used to know a guy named Percy." He didn't talk about the part where he'd mysteriously disappeared and everyone didn't know he ever existed.

"It's short for Perseus, actually," Percy said, making a face. "It's a gross name, I know." Then he quickly added, Don't tell my mom I said that."

"Well, I'm Jordan. Jordan Harton. I-" he trailed off at the look on Percy's face. "Sorry?"

"Your name is Jordan Harton, and you used to know a guy named Percy?" Percy asked, looking panic-stricken. "His last name, it wasn't Jackson, was it?"

Now it was Jordan's turn to have a little mini cardiac arrest. "P-Percy Jackson?" he managed to spit out.

Percy broke into a wide grin. "Jordan! Wow, it's been forever! Do you still remember third grade?"

"How could I forget?" Jordan replied, and he was almost mortified to say that his eyes were blurring with tears just a little.

"When we spent three hours putting toothpaste in Oreos so we could give them to the bullies?"

Jordan nodded. "And I got your ugly hat back for you. Man, that was an ugly hat."

"This is my girlfriend, Annabeth," Percy suddenly said, like he just remembered the others were there. "And my friend Grover. He's got horns because he's a satyr. Not many people can see them, because of this thing called the Mist, which you apparently can see through. It's pretty rare for a mortal. My mom can, and so can my friend Rachel, along with a few others. It's a gift… but it can also be a curse."

"Slow down," Annabeth mouthed.

"Well, yeah, I get that. I mean, I've seen some pretty crazy stuff," Jordan said. "But you call me a mortal - like you're not…"

"We might want to order another round of coffees," Percy decided. "We could be here for a while."

* * *

**D'AWWWW SAPPY ENDING! Okay, so probably no more Jordan in this story. I'll be sad, because I really liked him. Anyway, his plot line has run its course, so in the next chapter we'll be back with nine year old Percy!**


	12. Lost at Sea?

**Well, this took me long enough, didn't it? XD Over two weeks... I should be ashamed, I guess. I was originally going to end it at the first line break, but it was way too short and I was listening to Somewhere Only We Know by Keane, and... the second half just kind of wrote itself. Anyway, I have a ton of homework this weekend (My homework level is crazy. One day I'll have nothing, and the next day I'll have something in every class :P) so you guys are lucky I love you. RIGHT? **

**I have a question for all of you: Do you want me to reply to your reviews here in the AN, or in a PM like I've been doing (or trying to do)? **

**THANK YOOOOUUU TO Mandi2341, Guest, Myseybee, MidnightEevee, and Insane PJO LOver 93 for REVIEWING! You all get Jolly Ranchers. BLUE RASPBERRY Jolly Ranchers. Or whichever ones are your favorite, I suppose... I just like Blue Raspberry the best... I know, I'm weird...**

* * *

I'd left a bunch of schools before, but this one was the fastest. That's kind of stupid, because it was the only one I really liked.

I also felt kind of bad about leaving Jordan and not telling him that I wasn't coming back.

I asked Mom if I could call him, but she said that wouldn't be a good idea and that I should forget about that school. That made me a little sad, but Mom really did look sorry about it. Besides, I couldn't be mad at her about it. She was my mom, and she was the greatest person in the entire world. If I was going to be mad at anyone, it would have to be the one-eyed stalker. It is his fault I had to leave.

Mom told me that I'd be starting at a new school after Christmas. I told her I'd just get kicked out again, or something would happen and I'd have to leave. She said not to think like that, and that I should believe in myself a little more.

That was when I got mad, just a bit, and I said that I hadn't made a whole year at one school before ever, and why would I this time? I kind of yelled, and Mom didn't yell back. She just looked really sad and tired - even more than usual - and I went to my room and felt pretty bad about the whole thing. I shouldn't have yelled at her, she was trying to help me. I was an idiot. I wanted to tell her that, because maybe it would make her feel better, but I didn't. I don't know why I didn't. I just… didn't.

I liked to stay in my room most of the time. Smelly Gabe couldn't bully me, because he was too fat and lazy to get up and walk over to my room, and I didn't really have to talk to anyone else. I wanted to talk to Mom, but she always looked stressed, all the time, and I didn't want to distract her any more than she already was.

It also didn't help that Smelly Gabe kept telling her to make him some bean dip. Every time I saw them together he was telling her to hurry up with it, and she said she would, but a few minutes later he'd bug her about it again.

I wanted to slap His Royal Flabbiness across his chubby cheeks.

I got really close, too, once. It was just some normal night; we were eating supper, which was Chinese takeout, at eight because Mom got off work late.

"This is real good, Sally," Gabe said loudly with his mouth full. If I'd have done that, I would've been dismissed from the table. "But you know what would make it better? Bean dip."

Mom sighed and put down her fork. I felt kind of nervous, like I knew something bad was going to happen. "Gabe, I told you… I'll make it when I have time."

"Why don't you make some time, then?" Gabe asked in a rude voice. "Instead of looking at all those prissy school websites for the kid in your free time."

I bit my lip and shoved half of an egg roll in my mouth. _I have a name, you know?_ I wanted to snap at him. Self control. I didn't have it.

Now Mom looked a little more than annoyed. I sat forward slightly, because I wanted to see Mom chew Gabe out.

"You have lived with Percy for two years. I'm sure you know his name by now. And don't you care at all about your stepson's education?"

"Hey," Gabe said thickly, "He does nothing. I don't know why we keep his sorry ungrateful hide around this dump."

"He's a child!" Mom said angrily. "He is nine years old, Gabriel. Do you honestly expect him to pay his way around here? Do you?"

"I'm not tellin' him to get a job or anything," Gabe said, slamming a hand on the table. "I don't wanna get arrested, woman. I'm just saying he should do a little more. Like maybe help out me and my buddies while we're playing poker? Fetch us beers when we need 'em?"

"My son will not be your beer boy," Mom said in a voice that meant _I'm serious._

"He's dead weight!"

"Enough!" Mom yelled. "That's enough. Gabe, we'll discuss this later. Percy, it's time for your shower."

"But I don't wanna take a shower!" I protested, and right away I felt like a jerk for being mean to Mom right after Gabe was.

"Percy, please," she said quietly, rubbing the side of her head like she was getting a mybrain… I mean migraine.

"I'm sorry," I said. And I meant it.

"I'll get the towels ready," Mom said, pushing in her chair and going into the next room. I went to my room and kicked over a pile of Gabe's magazines. Gabe was so dumb. Mom deserved so much better than him. She was amazing, and he was a cow. And I wasn't helping.

I grabbed some pajamas and went into the bathroom, where Mom was waiting with a pile of towels, that she put down on the counter.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out.

"There's nothing you need to be sorry for," Mom said with a smile that looked a little sad. Or maybe I was imagining it. I opened my mouth to reply, but she stopped me. "I know what you're going to ask. You're going to ask me why Gabe is still here."

"No! Well… yeah," I admitted. It hurt to see Mom being shoved around by Smelly Gabe. And I was pretty sure that toothpaste in an Oreo wasn't going to get rid of him.

"I know you hate him," she said, and I could just see it coming. This would turn out the same as every other time we talk about Gabe. I'll understand when I'm older, I'll understand someday.

But what Mom really said surprised me a lot.

"Percy, your father was one of the best men I've ever met. He was wonderful, and my short time with him was one of the best in my life. He was rich and important, and one day he had to take a journey overseas…" She looked like she was about to start crying, and I awkwardly looked away. I hated watching people cry. It made me feel bad that I wasn't crying with them, and it was even worse that it was Mom. "He never came back. Lost at sea."

That was the most I'd ever heard Mom talk about him. Some famous guy was my dad? "So he's dead?" I said, frowning. I guess I kind of always thought he was still around, and I'd be able to find him someday. But, now that I think about it, him being dead makes more sense. He wouldn't just leave Mom for no reason. She was too good for that.

"Not dead," she told me. "Lost at sea."

"Isn't that the same thing?" I asked, confused.

Mom shook her head. "Not necessarily." She looked like was going to cry again, so I just hugged her. She looked like she needed a hug. She hugged me back, and when I let go, I grabbed a towel.

"I guess I'll take that shower now."

Mom smiled. "You do that."

* * *

Sally Jackson was waiting in the parking lot of Percy's new school, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel and scanning the area for her son. School was wrapping up for the day, and students were beginning to filter out of the building.

Percy had been at this school for two relatively quiet weeks, and he seemed to be doing all right. Sally felt almost guilty for separating him from that Jordan boy who he seemed to be getting along so well with. Of course, it was all for Percy's safety. That was her first priority.

Or was it? If Percy's safety was really the most important thing to her, then wouldn't she have sent him to_ that_ place by now? _Camp Half-Blood?_

Sally banished those thoughts from entering anywhere near her head. She had more important things to worry about than whether her priorities were straight, such as paying the bills, dealing with Gabriel Ugliano, and making sure she didn't slip up and tell Percy more about his father than he needed to know, like she'd done a month ago, after Gabe was having a particularly bad day.

She had been so sick of that - could you really call him a _man_? - and had gotten a little too sentimental for her own good.

She dwelled on the past too much in her own mind, there was no need to force her weaknesses on her son.

And there he was, walking along with his hands in his pockets and his backpack over one shoulder. Sally reminded herself to tell him that he should wear his backpack over both shoulders, so he didn't put too much pressure on only one.

Percy opened the door and hopped in, giving Sally a smile. "Hey, Mom."

Sally asked her usual question, "How was school?"

"It was pretty good. We had a substitute teacher, though. And he was cool. He didn't make us do a ton of work, and he let us have extra recess!"

Sally let a smile slip onto her face. Percy tended to have that affect on her. She reached over to grab the paper that was sitting on the passenger seat and said, "Would you mind staying here for just a few minutes? I need to give this to the school nurse." It was Percy's medical information. He didn't have any allergies, or a history of diseases, but the administration insisted Sally fill out the sheet anyway.

"All right," Percy said, stretching and yawning. "I might fall asleep, though."

Sally grinned. "I'll try to be quick." She went into the school and, with not much difficulty, found the health office. The nurse wasn't in the room, so Sally pulled off a Post-It note from the stack that was laying around and scribbled 'Percy Jackson' on it, sticking it to the paper and leaving it on the desk.

When Sally turned around to leave, she came face-to-face with someone she fully expected she'd never see again. Dark hair, green eyes, tanned skin.

It was _him_.

"P-Poseidon?" she managed to choke out. It was the first time she'd spoken that name in - well, who knows how many years.

Poseidon gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Sally."

"What are you doing here?" She found herself slightly flustered, struggling for words. He had left her ten years ago. Him showing up now… well, it was more than a little painful.

"Well, being a third-grade substitute teacher, I suppose. But, my true motive is this: I needed to remind you of something I told you before I… well, before I left. About -" he lowered his voice a bit - "Camp Half-Blood. I've been keeping tabs on my son, even if you think I don't care about him."

Sally cringed inwardly. He was right.

"The monsters are finding him, no matter where he goes, am I right?"

She couldn't even look him in the eye anymore. "He's still safe."

"True, he is now, at this very moment. But he's growing up. There will be a day where you won't be able to watch him at all times. That day is coming, sooner than you think."

"Well, then, when is it?" Sally asked, fearing the worst. That he would tell her the time was now. That he would need to take Percy away to the camp immediately. That there was no other way.

Poseidon sighed. "You'll know. Believe me, when the time comes, you'll know."

"Why now?" Sally asked. She hadn't meant to say anything more, but the question was too much to ignore. "Why are you coming now? Percy has been having these _incidents_ since he was five years old!"

"I know."

"There's something else, isn't there?" Sally demanded. "Something going on. With… your side of the family."

He smiled sadly. "You always were a little more perceptive than those around you." Something shimmered and appeared in his hand. A trident. _No_, Sally thought, _no emotions right now. Just Percy and what's best for him._

"Well," she said abruptly, "If that's all you had to say, then I should get back to my car, where _my son_ is waiting for me." She took great care to not say _our son_.

Poseidon looked like he wanted to say one last thing, but instead he turned around, the trident shimmering and disappearing once more. He opened the door of the health office and walked out, rounding a corner. When Sally was sure he was out of sight, she left the room herself, making her way back to the car. When she opened the door, she saw Percy stir. So he had fallen asleep while she was gone.

He sat up and said drowsily, "That took a long time."

"I know, I had to talk to someone while I was in there."

"Oh… okay," Percy said, leaning against the side of the car. "I was having an awesome dream, though! I was a hero and I was fighting monsters with a cool sword!"

Sally wanted more than anything for that fantasy to remain in his dreams.


	13. Wanna Make a Bet?

**YESSS! I GOT THIS CHAPTER OUT TODAY INSTEAD OF TOMORROW! I made a deadline, I made a deadline... **

**I'm sorry if this chapter's not up to scratch, because it's probably one that you've all been waiting for since the very beginning, but I desperately wanted to update on House of Hades day! Speaking of House of Hades... spoilers, guys. I don't want 'em in the reviews. Not a single one. Not because I want to protect the readers who haven't read the book yet... but because ****_I _****haven't gotten the book yet. (The Minun, was the lucky one who got to be first on the library's waiting list. GRR) I ALREADY got a spoiler today, but that one was okay (somewhat) because TheChronicler137 and I had been freaking out about it since Saturday and we needed the truth. :P **

**IMPORTANT BUT NOT REALLY VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: I put up a poll on my profile. Go vote... if you want to. You can get a digital sticker that says 'I voted'. **

**ASDFGHJKLASDFGHJK? WE GOT 50 REVIEWS? SHOUT OUT TO KEYOFNOSTALGIA FOR BEING THE 50TH REVIEWER! **

**But we would've never got to 50 without all of you who reviewed the last chapter: Insane PJO LOver 93, Mandi2341 (more blue Jolly Ranchers for you), osnapitzsofia, MidnightEevee, and... well, KeyOfNostalgia reviewed earlier chapters but THANKS TO HER TOO! **

* * *

When I got home from school, Smelly Gabe was in a bad mood. Like always, I guess, but worse. Get it?

Anyway, I was scared because I had a dollar in my pocket, and Gabe can sniff out money like some kind of police dog. I think I heard that they go around smelling for drugs or stuff, but the point is Gabe knew when I had money, and if I wasn't going to hand it over, he would rough me up pretty bad.

But he didn't even ask me if I had any for once. I was surprised, but I wasn't complaining. I went to my room as fast as I could and hid the money in a shoe box. I stayed in there, because Gabe on a bad day was something you did not want to face without, like, armor or something. Maybe a cool sword. I wanted one of those.

When it was time for dinner, though, and Mom called me out, I had to go. Mostly because I was hungry, but also because I needed to protect Mom from Smelly Gabe. Although, when I think about it, I'm not sure how I'd really do that, because he's about three times as big as me. Morbid support, maybe? Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right. I think it's something else. Oh well, I don't know for sure.

But I went down, and Gabe was already sitting at the table. Did I ever mention how Gabe was so fat that he kind of drooped off either side of the tiny kitchen chairs? I mean, I just thought that was funny. I would never say that to him, though.

Mom had made chili, which tasted really good. Obviously, because Mom made it. The only bad part was, it was bean chili, and that makes Gabe really, and I mean _really_ gassy. Mom would say that's "crude"... but it's the truth.

The bowl got passed around, and I spilled a little when I was handing it to Gabe, but I wiped it up with my napkin real quick and no one ever knew.

No one was talking.

Finally Gabe said in a really low, grouchy voice, "Good day at work, Sally?" Then he gave her that look that meant _answer me now or I'm gonna break something._

"Good enough," Mom said, but she looked tense. I felt a little sick, but I kept eating because I didn't want Mom worrying about if I was okay or not.

See, Mom and Gabe have been fighting a lot more than usual. They always fight, of course, because Mom and Gabe are about as different as ice cream and horse poop - Mom's the ice cream, Gabe's the horse poop, _obviously_. But in the past couple weeks they've been more _on edge_. They are both _at the end of their rope_.

I learn a lot of great expressions in school, don't I?

"Well, mine was terrible," Gabe said calmly, but he didn't look calm. He looked like he wanted to murder a cute fluffy puppy or something. "It was complete rubbish. You wanna know why?"

Mom put down her spoon and sighed. "Not particularly, Gabriel."

"You wanna know why?" he repeated, pretending he didn't hear her. He pointed a chubby finger at her as he said it.

"Why?" Mom asked quietly, and I was mad. Mom shouldn't just give in like that. Gabe was being an idiot, and she was just letting him walk all over her. She didn't deserve it. I know I said that five billion times already, but no matter how many times I say it, nothing's gonna change.

"Because I lost a bet," he said. "I lost a bet with one of my buddies."

"I told you this gambling thing was a bad idea," Mom started, but Gabe interrupted.

"It wasn't gambling! I just bet him that he wouldn't be able to sell anything to this _hot_ lady who came into the store today, and -"

If looks could kill, Gabe would be dead. No question. Mom's eyes were pretty much on fire. "I don't think you have any right to call other women hot, now, do you?"

"Listen, I'm just tellin' it like it is," Gabe protested. "And I lost 'cause he sold something to her. I had five bucks on that, five bucks that could've gone to something worthwhile -" _Like beer and nachos_? I thought - "But no, I had to give it to Freddie." Then he called Freddie some naughty words.

"Gabriel, don't use foul language in front of Percy, he's nine!" Mom exclaimed.

Gabe swore again. "I am just frustrated!" He slammed a fist on the table, flipping over his bowl and spilling the chili everywhere, but he didn't bother to clean it up. I wish Gabe would get in trouble for being messy like I do.

"Do you wanna make a bet?" Gabe yelled. His face was really red, I noticed. "Do. You. Want. To. Make. A. Bet."

"I do _not_ want to make a ridiculous bet with you, no!" Mom said, not in a yelling voice, but she sounded pretty frustrated herself.

"I wanna make a bet I can win," Gabe said. "Today I just feel like a loser, and I don't think anyone likes feeling like a loser. Let's make a bet that I can win."

"This is completely immature," Mom said, crossing her arms. "I will not."

"You will!" Gabe said, frowning. Then he blurted out, "Food can't be blue!"

Mom laughed, but it didn't sound like a real laugh. (Later, I looked up in the dictionary what a good word for that would be, and I found one: _derisive. Derisive_ means "expressing contempt or ridicule." I'm not exactly sure what those words mean, but I think it's right.) "Food can't be blue," she repeated. "_Food can't be blue_."

"Yeah!" Gabe said, with a smile on his face that meant I won! "Food cannot be blue."

"Food can be blue," Mom said.

"Can't," Gabe said.

"Blueberries?" Mom asked.

"Those aren't really blue. They're more like a mix of blue and purple. Oh - indigo. Also, they aren't blue on the inside." He frowned and added, "I don't think."

"Blue corn chips," Mom said.

"Those aren't really blue either. They're more like, black or something, and who would call that real food? It's disgusting and bland. The texture is awful, too."

"Blue cotton candy! Blue jellybeans!" Mom was getting frustrated again, I think. I didn't really get why food being blue was such a big deal. I liked the color blue, though. Water's blue, or at least it looks blue if there's a lot of it and you see it from a distance. Water in a glass doesn't look blue. It doesn't have a color… that's dumb.

But I like the color blue.

"Don't count!" Gabe said loudly. "Artificially flavored."

"You never said they had to be naturally flavored," Mom said. "You just said food can't be blue. Food is defined as something that is edible. If it's artificially flavored, it's still edible, therefore it is still food."

"That's crazy," Gabe said. "You're getting too technical. Listen, it was just a silly bet."

"You didn't act like it was just a silly bet when you made it. You're angry that you couldn't win," Mom told him.

"Not true," Gabe said. "You were just taking this too seriously. I didn't mean it, I was just having fun, right?"

I think Mom wanted to say more, but she didn't. She just grabbed a roll of paper towels and started to clean up the chili that Gabe spilled, but I could see she looked mad. I was mad too. I was only nine, and I was even smart enough to know Gabe was dead serious!

I have to admit, I was a little scared to be near them for the rest of that night, because I was scared Gabe would blow up again and start yelling about making bets and food being blue or whatever. So I went to bed early.

* * *

The next day, Mom did something that she didn't usually do. She brought home some candy from the candy store she works at, Sweet on America. There was a whole bag of it, and she handed it to me when she walked in the door and told me to not make myself sick.

I was really happy, actually. I opened the bag and looked inside, and all I saw was blue. Blue jellybeans. Mom brought home an entire bag of blue jellybeans.

And I think Gabe realized how stupid he sounded last night, because he didn't even yell at me when I showed him the bag, smiled really wide, and asked him if he wanted any.

He just glared.


End file.
